Hills Group has confirmed building work on a controversial waste treatment plant in Westbury will start in October.

Wiltshire County Council’s regulatory committee approved the plans for the mechanical biological treatment plant, which will be built on the Northacre Industrial Estate, in March.

The plant will stop more than 45,000 tonnes of west Wiltshire rubbish from reaching landfill every year, and will include a £1m household recycling centre.

All recyclable waste collected by the county’s waste and recycling contractor, Hills Group, is currently taken to its plant at Lower Compton, near Calne, from where it is shipped to different mills where it can be turned into a useable product.

The new plant will mean an estimated saving of about 100,000 lorry miles as west Wiltshire rubbish will no longer be driven to Lower Compton.

Hills Group hopes the plant, which has been opposed by nearby residents and businesses, will be open by 2011.