This is what Gloucestershire’s household rubbish looks like being burnt at 850 degrees centigrade inside the belly of the £633million Javelin Park waste incinerator.

A video shot by the Local Democracy Reporting Service today shows tonnes of waste being burnt to ash at dangerously high temperatures to be converted into electricity for 25,000 homes.

The large rubbish burner, near junction 12 of the M5, became fully operational today and will accept up to 190,000 tonnes of residual waste each year.

As the county’s population is set to largely increase by 2050, the facility is expected to burn all of the homes’ rubbish by then, but it currently takes waste from all homes, some businesses and offices in Gloucestershire as well as one waste delivery service from Wales to plug the gap.

The facility has faced controversy for years from campaigners over the the site, who blocked its first delivery of waste last year.

Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) is working on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council to treat the county’s residual waste – that is waste which is not readily reused or recycled – and is under contract for the next 25 years.

The county council said Javelin Park will reduce carbon levels and save taxpayers £100m over 25 years.

Councillor Nigel Moor, cabinet member for environment and planning at the authority, 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 taxpayer £100 million over 25 years.”

UBB said it now hopes the waste incinerator can be used for community use, and will host visits, tours and events.

Stacey Wright, General Manager at UBB, 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.”