The Isle of Man's new Animal Waste Processing Plant has been officially opened.

The ?6.2 million facility at Richmond Hill, Braddan was completed on time and within budget and is expected to treat around 5,500 tonnes of animal waste a year.

Commissioning of the plant started in July 2008 and it was handed over to the Department of Transport last October.

It is now receiving all the Island's animal waste material, and the state of the art rendering system allows the department to utilise the tallow (fat) extracted from the treated animal waste material to be used as a fuel to operate the facility, reducing running costs significantly.

All waste water used in the process is also treated on site as part of the rendering process and, for the first time in the Isle of Man, the department can also receive and treat, through the rendering process, all the animal waste blood from the Meat Plant.

The DoT says that since the new plant became operational, it has not been necessary to export any raw animal waste products to the UK for disposal.

The final product, greaves (meat and bone meal), is exported to the UK where it is used to generate electricity.

The facility was officially opened by Transport Minister David Anderson.

(Picture: Politicains and officials, including Mr Anderson, far left, at the official opening of the plant).