Ballast Phoenix awarded North London IBA deal
Ballast Phoenix has been awarded a £4.5 million contract to process incinerator bottom ash (IBA) generated at the EcoPark Energy Centre in Edmonton.
The contract has been awarded by LondonWaste Limited, which treats around 540,000 tonnes of residual waste generated by the North London Waste Authority at the Enfield-based incinerator every year.
Ballast Phoenix, an IBA recycling specialist, will be expected to collect and process up to 120,000 tonnes of IBA – a by-product of the EfW process – each year.
The company already handles the product at a number of sites across the UK including Edmonton, where it is processed for use in road pavements and concrete applications. Ferrous and non-ferrous metals recovered from the treatment are sent on to recycling markets.
Clean Power EfW gets green light from council
A second thermal gasification plant in Corby has been approved by Northamptonshire county council this week, despite fears that the technology is ‘unproven’.
Clean Power Properties Ltd resubmitted a planning application for a 195,000 tonnes-per-year capacity facility on Shelton Road after scrapping plans for an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in June.
The facility will now feature a materials recovery plant and an advanced thermal treatment facility, which will use gasification technology provided by Stafford-based Biomass Power Ltd.
The county council had been advised to approve the plant in an officer’s report, despite protests from residents, local MP Tom Pursglove and the United Kingdom Without Incineration Network that the technology is unproven (see letsrecycle.com story).
It is also the second gasification facility proposed for the area, with Drenl’s 120,000 tonnes-per-year Gretton Brook Road plant to be sited just two miles away.
But councillors have now signalled their approval for the new plant, on condition that nesting bird protection and boundary hoarding are adhered to.
It follows fears that Northamptonshire could face widening undercapacity in waste treatment, with a shortfall of 470,000 tonnes per year expected in 2021.
Gatwick Airport to build EfW plant
Gatwick Airport has announced plans to build a small on-site energy recovery plant, in order to dispose of Category 1 waste.
Gatwick, which is developing the plant in partnership with logistics giant DHL, would become ‘the first airport in the world’ to dispose of its category 1 waste on-site.
Category 1 forms the majority of waste from non-EU flights and is define as food waste or anything mixed with it – such as packaging, cups and meal trays – from international transport vehicles.
Gatwick currently treats 2,200 tonnes of Category 1 waste each year – around 20% of the total generated at the airport (10,500 tonnes) – and the new energy plant will process around 10 tonnes a day. The plant also includes an in-house recycling sorting centre.
Stewart Wingate, Gatwick chief executive, said: “Handling waste is a challenge for all airports, but Gatwick’s new World-beating facility converts a waste problem into a green energy source.We expect others to follow Gatwick’s lead as we realise our ambition to become the UK’s most sustainable airport.”
Paul Richardson, managing director, Specialist Services at DHL Supply Chain UK & Ireland, added: “We will work closely with Gatwick Airport to integrate new technologies such as our Biomass Waste to Energy System into the supply chain, enhancing energy production and ensuring a sustainable platform to support future expansion for the airport.”
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