The waste-to-energy plant could be fed by up to 160,000 tonnes of commercial, industrial, clinical and municipal waste a year sourced from Hertfordshire and the surrounding area.

Paul Wright of Paul Wallace Commercial, which is advising Trent Developments, says: “The technologies involved – pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion – are both low emission forms of power generation. Facilities of the size we are proposing can play a major role in helping communities dispose of non-recyclable rubbish in a way that doesn’t generate large numbers of traffic movements and has minimal adverse effects on the surrounding area.”