A HUGE recycling plant which is set to be a world-leader was given the green light by Newport's planners.

Sims Group UK plan to process more than 100,000 tonnes of electrical waste in an £8 million facility on land in Alexandra Docks, Pill.

We revealed at the end of last year that the proposal was set to make the city the recycling capital of the world.

It is being built to meet the UK's requirements under the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive which came into force earlier this year.

The plant will treat and recycle all waste electrical equipment, including televisions, fridges and cars, to reduce to amount of rubbish going to landfill.

Waste will come in from all over the UK and a spokesman previously told the Argus the expansion, part-financed by the National Assembly, would make Newport "the world's premier recycling facility".

Sims already have the largest fridge recycling plant taking in 700,000 tonnes of metal, 750,000 fridges and 300,000 cars every year.

More than 100 people are employed at the Pill site and the new plant will mean more jobs, both in construction and those who will work at the plant.

An officers' report said the proposal was welcomed as fridges will no longer be stored externally on the site as part of the development.

Members of the planning committee agreed to give consent subject to conditions.

They also agreed to a separate application from Sims for an extension to the exisiting shredder for metal recycling which is also necessary because of the EU directive.

Scrap from the shredder is fed directly into ships berthed next to the Docks site and will create a further eight jobs, said a report.