Plans have been lodged which, if approved, would almost double the size of a recycling plant on the edge of Norwich and enable people across the county to recycle more of their waste.

Councils across Norfolk are backing the award of a 10-year contract with Norse - a company owned by Norfolk County Council - to take on the task of recycling the county's waste.

And to do that, Norse want to extend the Materials Recycling Facility run by its subsidiary Norfolk Environmental Wase Services.

Plans have been lodged with the county council to provide a further 3,100m² of covered building space at the plant, which is on the Longwater estate at Costessey.

That would add to the existing 5,000m² building, which currently deals with recycling 80,000 tonnes of waste each year and would enable 125,000 tonnes to be dealt with.

The extension will mean householders will be able to recycle glass, plastic film and other types of plastic such as pots, trays and tubs, so long as their local councils opt in to collect that material.

In documents lodged with Norfolk County Council, the applicant's agent The Landscape Partnership states: 'The inclusion of these additional materials will increase the tonnage that is currently being processed by NEWS on behalf of the councils at the MRF.

'This requires the installation of additional processing equipment together with a building extension in order to facilitate the additional equipment and storage space required for both unprocessed and processed materials.'

While the proposals will not create any new jobs, bosses say it will help 'consolidate' the existing 100 jobs at the plant.

The plans will come before the council's planning committee at a future date.