More than 500 tonnes of residual waste is being turned into electricity each day from the grandly-named Gloucestershire Energy from Waste Facility.

The waste from the county's homes and Household Recycling Centres is burnt at the fiery edifice to produce in excess of 116,000 megawatt hours each year.

Built by Urbaser Balfour Beatty for Gloucestershire County Council it will burn residual waste - stuff that is not readily recycled - under a contract that lasts for the next 25 years.

It began operating in October of last year while workers remained on site to address any snags with the operations and also complete the facility's wildlife area.

The council say that the incinerator will minimise the reliance of landfill in Gloucestershire, leading to less methane being produced.

It will also generate enough power to power around 25,000 homes while recycling aggregates and metals recovered during processing at the plant.

Next month a dedicated Visitor Centre will open for educational tours, courses and workshops on "waste hierarchy and recycling", climate change and sustainability.

The Visitor Centre also provides an area for community meetings and events, wildlife and outdoor amenities, and a location for business network events and meeting spaces.

Facility manger Stacey Wright said: "We are pleased to have advanced to being fully operational from the commissioning phase and that the first few months have proceeded as planned.

"We are now making great progress on our Visitor Centre, living wall and our commemorative mural depicting the history of the site.

"From next month onwards, we hope to begin hosting visits and tours for community and educational groups to show how the County's waste is being treated and converted into energy and useful byproducts, and how the Facility supports Gloucestershire's recycling activities."

Councillor Nigel Moor, county council cabinet member for environment and planning said: "Javelin Park is a cost-effective and environmentally sound solution for processing the county's waste that can't be recycled.

"It will generate enough power for 25,000 homes, massively reduces carbon and saves the tax payer £100 million over 25 years."

The facility began its commissiong process in June 2019, when it first received waste to test the treatment processes.

In October, the commissioning phase was signed off by Urbaser Balfour Beatty, and moved from construction to operations.

Gloucestershire Energy from Waste Facility operates under an Environmental Permit which was issued and is monitored by the Environment Agency.