RUBBISH generated in Dorset homes will soon be powering the national grid.

Environmental contractor Sita has won planning permission to put three turbines at its Beacon Hill landfill site near Corfe Mullen.

The turbines will produce enough electricity from gas generated in the landfill to power 6,000 houses.

Sita area manager Steve Harman said: "The flare is burning off the gas generated by decomposition.

"If we don't burn the gas off it will naturally come out of the site anyway and that brings issues of odour."

Using the gas to run turbines could be generating electricity for the next 40 years - 20 years after the landfill is due to close.

"It's something we have always wanted to do," said Mr Harman.

"It takes quite a lot of time to come to fruition but we will shortly have the generator in place. When it's all installed it will be state-of-the-art stuff."

Corfe Mullen saw massive demonstrations against the landfill site when it was first proposed and bad feeling persisted once it was up and running.

But Sita achieved a remarkable turn around, once it began to listen and act on residents' anxieties via a liaison committee. Three hundred residents attended an open day last autumn and the feedback was positive.

County councillor Lesley Jones who chairs the committee said the flare was one of the improvements which was installed to deal with the smell.

"Since 2001 there's been a huge change in relations between Sita and local residents," she said.

"There's been a lot of hard work, a lot of investment in reducing the impact of the site.

"They're now looking to generate energy and that can only be a positive move for the environment."