Defra calls for more wood waste to be used as fuel

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affaird said that despite recycling and energy markets growing for clean, virgin wood in recent years, the material was still being “overlooked” as a resource.

At present, up to up to 10 million tonnes of waste wood is being produced in the UK each year, most of which goes to landfill.

One of the problems facing the sector is that there are only a few wood-burning biomass plants in operation in the UK and therefore much lower grade waste wood has to be sent overseas or to landfill.

Defra is now calling for more, geographically dispersed, wood combustion facilities which are compliant with the Waste Incineration directive and deliver both energy and heat recovery.

This fits with the government's intended convergence of energy and waste policy and coincides with the banding of the Renewables Obligation which will significantly increase support for electricity generated from biomass and Combined Heat and Power (CHP).

Announcing her support today, Defra's minister for climate change and waste Joan Ruddock said: “It has been estimated that recovering energy from 2 million tonnes of waste wood could generate 2600GWh of electricity and save 1.15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, with greater benefits available by recovering heat as well as power. This is a huge potential that is being wasted.”

To back up its beliefs, Defra publihed a study into the biomass market for wood waste in the UK.

The Waste Wood as Biomass Fuel report was compiled from a range of published material, with input from a number of producers, aggregators and users of waste wood. It aims to provide an overview of the current shape of the waste wood market and expected direction of travel.

The report outlines the substantial indigenous and largely untapped biomass resource available in municipal, construction and demolition, and commercial and industrial waste streams.

Last month, Dr Alan Whitehead MP voiced concerns that government plans to promote renewable energy could hit wood recycling efforts (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, the report claims that while there may be scope for limited further development of recycling, it appears that this capacity is “unlikely to increase significantly in the near future.” – making energy production the best route.

The report said: “Demand for energy recovery from non fossil fuels is likely to increase in the future, as set out in the Government Energy Review. Biomass fuels are expected to play an important role in this regard, as we seek to significantly expand renewable energy generation in the context of the EU 20% renewable energy target. “