TESTS have confirmed the viability of a system which recycles waste wood from landfill sites into an alternative to coal for school boilers.

Durham County Council, backed by £63,500 of landfill tax credit funding from the County Durham Environmental Trust, has been researching the idea through testing managed by North Energy Associates.

Although the technology works and the organisers say it will be some time before use of the pellets is commonplace, the results of the experiments at Ferryhill Comprehensive School were encouraging.

If the idea takes off, the plan is to use the pellets in schools across County Durham and eventually to see it adopted nationwide.