The benefits of MBT

The impact of societys waste on our environment is of increasing concern. Landfill is no longer a sustainable option, either financially or environmentally, so we need initiatives that both minimise waste generation, and alternative solutions to deal with the by-products of our modern lifestyles.

Incineration is one such solution destroying waste by burning it and creating energy as a useful by-product. However, there is widespread concern among experts and local communities about the environmental and health impacts of incinerators, and planning permission can take years to achieve. Infrastructure costs are also significant and can tie waste authority customers to long contracts. Incinerators require volumes of waste often larger than the local community can supply, drawing waste in cross-county to feed the beast.

Mechanical biological treatment (MBT), which has grown in popularity in recent years, supports local waste minimisation and recycling initiatives and allow local authorities to change the composition of the waste requiring treatment as these initiatives take effect. MBT also offers valuable second-chance recycling, recovering metals and rigid plastics to increase local recycling levels through mechanically sorting residual black bag waste. This approach still allows effective kerbside collection schemes, but helps prevent the loss of recyclable material to incineration or landfill.

Much has been debated about the value of producing a compost-like output (CLO) from the organic-rich fraction within residual waste. New Earths CLO is used beneficially within land restoration schemes and does not require landfilling as a disposal route. If markets exist for the product then facilities should continue to produce it.

Refuse derived fuels

The production of refuse-derived fuels (RDF) from residual waste that cannot be recycled has revolutionised New Earths MBT landfill diversion performance. Importantly, our MBT process works in accordance with the waste hierarchy – actively promoting recovery of recyclable and compostable fractions before RDF is produced for energy recovery. This has enabled us to increase our landfill diversion rate from around 75% to in excess of 90% over the last 18 months at New Earths three operational MBT facilities in Poole, Bristol and Leicestershire.

Although currently exporting RDF to mainland Europe, we are in the process of commissioning our own 13 MW advanced thermal energy plant in Avonmouth, near Bristol the first in a planned sequence of deployments strategically positioned to utilise RDF to generate renewable energy. Third-party studies have shown processing waste in this way has a much smaller carbon impact than landfill or mass burn incineration, about a third in fact. To give this some context, 200,000 tonnes of residual waste treated using MBT and our advanced thermal energy recovery in a year equates to the same reduction in carbon impact as taking 28,000 cars off the road for the same period of time.

MBT provides a valuable and cost-effective safety net for our customers – it is here to stay as a means of managing our waste for as long as there is a mixed residual collection. The culture of our society has to change but the benefits MBT can deliver in the meantime will flex and last for years.