Enfinium suggests this refutes the argument that building more EfW facilities harms recycling rates by removing the incentive to recycle.
The company published its first environmental, social and governance (ESG) report for 2021 today (24 May).
According to the report, Enfinium carried out a “detailed review” of the sources of waste it processed at its facilities in 2021 and found that “the average recycling rate for waste we receive is 10-20% above the national average.” This applied for both municipal and commercial and industrial (C&I) waste.
Enfinium primarily sources municipal and C&I waste through “long-term” contracts with large waste management companies including Biffa, FCC Environment, Suez, Veolia and Viridor, according to data published in July 2021.
Enfinium claims the “vast majority” of waste processed at its facilities is from waste streams where recycling rates of between 46% and 65% have been achieved.
The company says it incentivises its suppliers through contract specifications and pricing mechanisms which state they can only provide the facilities with waste “which cannot be reused or recycled”.
It adds is also has a “financial incentive” to reduce plastics in the waste it processes because a lower calorific value means its boilers can process more waste, its “primary source of revenue”.
Sources
The local authorities which supply Enfinium’s facilities include Anglesey, Barnsley, Bradford, Conwy, Denbighshire, Doncaster, East Riding, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Medway, Rotherham, Surrey, Telford, Wakefield, Wigan and Wrexham.
Wrexham had the highest recycling rate in the 2019/20 financial year (the year at which Enfinium’s report looked) at 69.6%, while Bradford had the lowest at 40.7%. The national average in England for 2019/20 was 45.5%.
EfW
Enfinium was formed in June 2021 when Wheelabrator UK and Multifuel Energy merged to form a single company, having been bought by infrastructure asset management business Igneo Infrastructure Partners (see letsrecycle.com story).
The company operates four EfW facilities across the UK, with a further two under construction.
In West Yorkshire, the company operates the Ferrybridge 1 and 2 facilities. Each can process up to 725,000 tonnes of residual “post-recycled” waste to generate 85MW of electricity.
Enfinium’s Parc Adfer facility in North Wales is capable of processing up to 200,000 tonnes of residual waste to generate 21MW of electricity.
And, the Kemsley facility in Kent can process up to 675,000 tonnes and generate 74MW of electricity. It has exported steam to a neighbouring paper mill operated by packaging company DS Smith since July 2020.
Enfinium is building the 410,000-tonne capacity Skelton Grange facility in Leeds and the 395,000-tonne capacity Kelvin facility in the West Midlands. A spokesperson for Enfinium told letsrecycle.com each was expected to become operational by the end of 2025.
Projects
The company says its operations delivered a net carbon saving of 571,747 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the UK in 2021 through diverting waste from landfill, electricity generation, industrial heat offtake and metals recovery and materials recycling.
Our newly developed ESG report and overall ESG vision have already added value
– Mike Maudsley, Enfinium
Mike Maudsley, Enfinium’s chief executive officer, said: “It is clear from our notable achievements this year that our newly developed ESG report and overall ESG vision have already added value and enhanced our business performance.”
Enfinium details plans for several long-term projects within the report. The company says it will invest in the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology and evaluate a number of technology options for implementation at its facilities.
Enfinium will look to “further leverage” the heat produced at its plants to heat its adjacent buildings, as it does at its Parc Adfer site.
The company says it will also seek further opportunities to partner with local industry to enable combined heat and power capabilities by exporting residual heat.
And, it will explore reactivating an incumbent rail system at its Ferrybridge site to import and transport waste via rail.
Related link
Enfinium ESG report
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