Pitsea waste management site is a large landfill site on the north side of the Thames estuary 0.7miles from Pitsea in Basildon, Essex.[1] It is the second largest landfill site in the UK[2] operated by Veolia Ltd.[1] receiving 800,000 tonnes of solid waste per year, mostly from the London conurbation.
The decomposition of organic matter within the landfill generates a gas rich which is rich in methane. This landfill gas is collected by a network of pipes and since 2001 has been used to power generators producing 16.2 MW of electricity. The electricity is sent into the National Grid; this amounts to about 94.4 GWh per year sufficient to power 14,300 homes.[3]
After the site closes in the early 2020s, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds plans to convert it to a nature reserve.[2]