A NEW £10m waste plant near Wallingford is turning Oxfordshire’s food rubbish into power.

The anaerobic digestion plant in Benson Lane – called Wallingford AD – collects food and garden waste from all the district councils and Oxfordshire County Council.

It then turns it into electricity which feeds into the National Grid.

Site operator Agrivert also runs a similar plant near Cassington called Worton Farm.

Agrivert’s commercial director Harry Waters said there would be bad smells from the site but it was far enough away from homes for it not to be a problem.

He said: “We are dealing with near on 80,000 tones of waste so there will be a smell, but we are not expecting it to be an issue. At our one similar plant at Cassington in two-and-a-half years we have had one complaint.

“Each of the plants near Wallingford and Cassington has the environmental effect of taking 70,000 cars off the road.

“The councils have targets to achieve which saves taxpayers a lot of money – half the amount it costs to dump the waste in landfill.”

The nearest homes are 400m away at Crowmarsh Gifford, but the wind predominantly blows from the south west, meaning residents at Benson 650m away are most likely to experience any stench.

The plant – officially opened last month by parliamentary under-secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Lord de Mauley – will process 45,000 tonnes of waste each year.