SITA UK has been granted permission to export up to 600,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to the Netherlands over the next three years. This is more than the company was previously permitted to export to the whole of Europe (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Environment Agency and Dutch Environment Authority, Agentschap NL, granted the three-year transfrontier shipment permit to provide the fuel to SITA UKs sister company SITA Northern Europe Waste Services (SITA NEWS). The waste will help power the combined heat and power facility in Amsterdam run by the City of Amsterdam Waste and Energy Company, Afval Energie Bedrijf (AEB). The facility is defined as a high-efficiency R1 recovery facility under the revised Waste Framework Directive.
David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of SITA UK, said: We have established ourselves as a responsible and reliable producer of RDF over the past 18 months and this has been recognised by the EA and Dutch government.
The length of this TFS permit reflects the trust which the authorities have in our ability to responsibly source, transport and deliver this quantity of material. It is going to one of the leading facilities in Europe in terms of efficiency, and gives them a much-needed supply from a guaranteed source. We have a great relationship with our sister companies in Europe and are delighted to be working with them to help put waste to good use.
A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said: This is the largest total to date but note that this consent is for 3 years while most notifications are for one.
Waste
The RDF used to supply the AEB facility will be a mix of municipal and industrial and commercial waste from the south east of England. The waste will be processed at SITA UK sites, where recyclables will be removed and the residual material trommelled and shredded before being transported in bespoke shipping containers, specially designed by SITA NEWS and SITA UK, to the Netherlands.
A ship chartered by SITA NEWS will make up to three trips a week from Tilbury to Amsterdam with the RDF, where it is taken directly to the AEB facility.
A spokesman for SITA UK told letsrecycle.com that AEB would be charging a gate fee to process the material, although it is understood that this is lower than that which would be charged in the UK.
He added that SITA expects UK demand for RDF to grow but that at present, millions of tonnes of domestic energy-from-waste capacity is needed and it is impossible to tell how long this will take to come online and replace the export market.
Cemex
Earlier this month, SITA teamed up with cement giant Cemex to produce all the RDF needed for its Rugby kiln (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Palmer-Jones said: Supplying SITA NEWS and, ultimately, AEB with residual waste from the UK makes good environmental sense while there is still a lack of recovery facilities in this country. We are helping to fuel one of the most efficient recovery facilities that needs RDF at a time when facilities of this calibre are still waiting to come online in the UK.
We anticipate that demand for this material will also grow in the UK. We already have an agreement to supply CEMEXs facility in Rugby with SRF (solid recovered fuel) over the next few years and will continue to pursue partnerships such as this in the UK.
We are also investing around 1.4 billion over the next three years in new recycling and resource management infrastructure in this country. In 2011 alone we received planning permissions for over two million tonnes of new recycling and resource management capacity and SITA UK is working hard to get this built and ready to begin processing material.
In March 2012, it emerged that the amount of RDF exported from the UK to Europe for incineration had quadrupled in just five months (see letsrecycle.com story). At that point, the amount permitted for export stood at 1.9 million tonnes.
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