PLANS to build a new waste centre in Wrexham are moving once more.

Waste management company HLC has found a technology partner to provide some materials.

The proposed pyrolysis plant on Wrexham Industrial Estate has been on hold while the Portuguese company tried to secure a partner.

HLC has now announced a proposed partnership with Waste Recycling Group (WRG), the largest waste management and energy recovery company in the UK.

WRG already operates Wrexham Council's household waste recycling centres and currently provides landfill disposal and composting services for the county borough.

An 11,000-name petition, however, has been handed to the council objecting to the proposals by Dee Border Waste Action Group.

'HLC recognises the need to instil confidence in the project and therefore the right partner is important,' said HLC chairman Luis Carvalho.

'We always intended bringing in a partner because of the huge resources necessary to complete a project like this. Sharing the resources, risks and rewards makes it easier to deliver what is required and a fresh look at the project and its issues will help to refine the solution. WRG will bring the benefit of the experience of a major waste company to this project.'

HLC and WRG intend to work with the council in order to further roll-out the kerbside collection system for recyclables, green waste and residual waste.

'This is an attractive opportunity and a deliverable project,' said WRG commercial director Chris Cox.

The partners intend to work with the council towards completing the building of the plant by March 2006.

But it has still not passed through planning, as the delay in finding a partner meant HLC has not yet submitted its Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit application.

The IPPC permit will require the company to detail every possible environmental problem or issue and how it will be prevented or dealt with.

Objectors to the scheme have questioned how the council can support the scheme before the permit has been issued.

HLC has been working on the Wrexham public/private finance initiative waste services contract with the council since 1997.

The pyrolysis and gasification plant that is planned for the industrial estate will automatically sort recyclable waste from non-recyclable and bake the non-recyclables in an oxygen-free baking process that locks environmentally-damaging substances within waste in ash which can safely be landfilled.

Objectors, including Kellogg's and Calypso Soft Drinks, are not convinced the operation will release no harmful emissions.