THE company that runs Cornwall’s waste incinerator has defended its record after it emerged one of the boilers at the complex will be out of action for months.

The Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre, run by Suez at St Dennis, accepts up to 240,000 tonnes of non-recyclable household waste each year across two processing lines.

One of these lines is now out of use after a huge boiler experienced a fault.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Energy Recovery Ltd said: “The boiler on one of the two lines at the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre experienced a fault over the summer.

“We employed a team of boiler specialists who have advised on a programme of repairs that will take around six months and will start as soon as the replacement parts arrive.

“The facility has continued to operate and process Cornwall’s household waste on its other line.

“However, during September we shut this line down for its yearly planned maintenance, meaning both lines were out of service for a month.

“During this time, we diverted Cornwall’s household waste, making every effort to secure capacity at other energy recovery facilities in the region to minimise waste sent to landfill.’’

Suez said that whilst the line with the boiler fault is undergoing repairs, it may be necessary to divert some waste during seasonal peaks in waste production, such as at Christmas.

The company said that if it cannot find capacity at other energy recovery facilities in the region, some waste will be sent to landfill during this period, adding that this would be “as a last resort”.

The spokesperson said: “Over the past five years, the facility has had a strong operational track record, it has achieved 91 per cent availability – this is best practice.”

The incinerator burns black bin bag household rubbish to generate electricity for the local network.