The sector is keen to divert large volumes of wood for energy recovery, partly because there is a shortage of outlets for material, especially lower grades, which cannot be sent to other markets such as the board mills.
An update on the discussions with Defra was given to the WRA's quarterly meeting in Glasgow last week. Members were told that there was increasing interest in renewable energy in the government's new English waste strategy which would give a tremendous boost to the wood recycling sector.
Targets in the strategy include Energy from Waste accounting for 25% of municipal waste by 2020 compared to 10% today.
The government predicts that of the estimated 7.5 million tonnes of wood waste arising in the UK each year, a third alone could generate 2600GWh of electricity and save 1.15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com last night, the secretary of the Wood Recycler's Association Rick Wilcox said: “We have met with DEFRA a couple of times and its Waste Implementation Programme team. We have been looking at what the barriers are to funding new energy from waste plants and getting them off the ground.”
Barriers
Mr Wilcox explained that while there was plenty of waste wood which could be used as a fuel in the UK, there were currently not the biomass facilities to take it. He said that existing and potential barriers included the lack of information of waste wood arisings and problems with public perception about recycled products.
However, the WRA secretary said that none of the problems were “insurmountable” and that the energy market provided a great opportunity for wood recyclers.
He said: “Wood is important part of the waste strategy and there is still a large amount of it going to landfill. The energy market provides a huge opportunity and it is an exciting time. The government, regulators and people locating and building the plants need to work together.”
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