A CENTRE to treat organic waste from homes in Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Caerphilly could be built in Ebbw Vale after plans for a site in Cwm fell through.

Blaenau Gwent council is offering land at Waun y Pound Industrial Estate as an optional site for the Heads of the Valleys Organic Project.

The authority’s previously proposed site, the Silent Valley Landfill site, is now considered unsuitable because it cannot provide a large enough area of land suitable for the project.

The Waun y Pound site will now be offered as an optional site to companies bidding to treat food and green waste in the area as part of the Heads of the Valleys Waste Programme, after the council’s executive voted to change the proposed site at a meeting on Wednesday.

The treatment centre will deal with 17 percent of the total waste for the three authority areas by 2020, including 22,000 tonnes of food waste and 15,000 tonnes of green waste a year.

Once plans are complete, companies will bid for a contract to run the centre, which is expected to be operating by 2013.

The project aims to meet targets to treat more waste sent to landfill set by the National Waste Strategy and European Union’s Landfill Directive.

Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly and Torfaen council have entered into a joint working agreement for the project.