List of England’s waste projects published by Defra

The list was published in response to a freedom of information request for a list of projects, their capacity and what stage they have reached as of August 21 2013. The information was used to inform Defras forecast of waste arisings in England which is used to assess the amount of biodegradable municipal waste that goes to landfill and whether the country is expected to meet necessary diversion levels under the EU Landfill Directive.

The Department estimates that England has a 95% likelihood of meeting or exceeding the targets in the Directive, with approximately 2.5 million tonnes of over capacity expected by 2020. As a result of these findings, the government withdrew 169 million in PFI funding from Norfolk county councils planned energy-from-waste facility in Kings Lynn (see letsrecycle.com story).

Projects

The Cory-Wheelabrator project in Norfolk is just one of over a hundred listed by Defra. The list details whether the projects are driven by a Public Private Partnership (PPP), a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) or a private sector merchant. It also details the life cycle stage of the project, as of August 21 2013, the plants operational date and the financial year in which this is expected to or did complete. The operational capacity of a project as well as the technology type energy-from-waste, mechanical biological treatment, landfill is also detailed.

For example, the South London Waste Partnerships (SLWP) venture is a PPP backed project which has reached financial close and is expected to be operational by November 1 2016. Once operational, the energy-from-waste facility, which is being built by Viridor will have the capacity to treat 274,000 tonnes of waste every year.
Viridors merchant EfW facility in Avonmouth is also listed with December 1 2018 noted as the operational date for the 350,000 tonnes-a-year plant.

The issue of waste arisings has sparked a lot of debate in the industry with many different viewpoints over the UKs future waste arisings and treatment capacity (see letsrecycle.com story)