CALLINGTON firm Ginsters could be the first company of its size to turn its food waste into energy through a biomass plant.

The firm says if the scheme goes ahead lorry movements in and out of the site at the Moss Side Industrial Estate will be reduced by 90%, which equates to 750 return journeys a year.

Ginsters, which has a workforce of 750 and is the largest employer in the area, is hoping to submit a planning application in September, following a positive response at a public exhibition recently.

Engineers have been working on the project for three years and have investigated various technologies around the world.

Brand communica-tions manager Larry File said the particular technology chosen was believed to be the best one available at the moment.

'This technology has only been used in one other place in the UK and it has a very sophisticated system for dealing with any odours or emissions,' he said.

'We are very confident that there will not be any problem in that area and because all the food waste will be reprocessed here, it could well reduce odours from the site.'

The biomass facility will take the moisture out of food waste so it looks like instant coffee granules. It will be combusted in a heater which generates steam to drive a turbine which in turn generates electricity.

Mr File said the energy would not directly power the site but would go into the national grid and Ginsters would get credits back from the electricity company. The energy produced would be enough to power around 1,500 homes a year.

A building would be erected to house the facility which would only be licensed to take food waste from Ginsters, and a specially selected team of operators, engineers and managers would be employed to run the plant.

Mr File added: 'We are really excited about the project. There are no other companies of our size doing anything like this at the moment.

'We hope that other organisations in the South West will come and look at what we are doing and it will encourage them to create similar projects in the future.'

At a meeting of Callington Town Council on Tuesday, resident Brian Riley said he thought it was a great thing, but added it was vital that there was good quality control.

'A plant that was built in Holsworthy stunk the area around it for years because they had a leak in one of the tanks and nobody wanted to accept responsibility for it,' he said.

Cllr Jeremy Gist said town councillors had had an informative meeting with Ginsters and one of the most important things they took away was that the company being employed to do the job had a very good reputation.

'The company has done a similar scheme in Swansea in the middle of a residential area and it has proved very effective and trouble-free,' he said.

Portreeve Rick Lumley said anything that was going to reduce the firm's carbon footprint had to be good for the environment: 'If the project reduces traffic movements by 750 that is going to make a big difference for local residents,' he said.