Cemex teams up with WRG for Rugby MBT project

The firm, which has UK headquarters in the West Midlands, submitted plans to Warwickshire county council in August last year to build a 300,000 tonne-a-year capacity plant to treat commercial and industrial waste at one of two sites near Rugby.

The agreement between Mexican-ownwed Cemex and Spanish-owned WRG would see the plant built and operated in partnership between the two companies if planning permission is granted for a site at either Southam or Malpass Farm in Rugby.

Cemex, which had previously expressed an interest in working with a waste firm on the project, said it selected WRG as a partner due to its experience in the field and also due to work done by WRG's Spanish owner Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) to develop similar facilities across Europe.

Neville Roberts, Cemex technical director, said: “Cemex had always planned to involve a waste management specialist in this project and in WRG we have one of the leaders in this activity in the UK and Europe. The use of Climafuel represents a ‘win-win' situation and this new partnership will deliver tangible benefits environmentally and commercially.”

Andy Ryan, development director at WRG, said: “This partnership represents an important extension to our offering. Climafuel would be manufactured to Cemex's tight specifications and this will produce a solid, clean and non-hazardous alternative fuel which generates valuable energy from material that cannot otherwise be recycled.”

RDF

Earlier this year, Defra announced that it would be investigating markets for the solid recovered fuel produced by the process to encourage take-up of MBT (see letsrecycle.com story).

[Editor's Note]: (October 9 2009) Contrary to our earlier report plans are still progressing in Wiltshire to develop an MBT facility with Hills Group. However, in Norfolk plans for an MBT have been abandoned (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, to avoid this issue, all the material produced at the Climafuel plant is intended to be fed back into the Cemex works at Rugby as part of its plan to cut dependence on transporting refuse-derived fuel from MBT plants in the south of England.

At present, the company has to source solid recovered fuel for use in its works in Rugby, Barrington in Cambridgeshire and South Ferriby in Lincolnshire from a range of other MBT plants, including Shanks' Frog Island facility in London.

The partnership between Cemex and WRG hopes to hear a decision from Warwickshire council on its planning application at a committee meeting on November 17 and is hopeful of having the facility operational by the end of 2010.