Low-grade wood recovery service flagged up to councils

Gloucestershire-based resource recovery firm Boomeco Limited has reported that the phone is already “ringing off the hook” about its one-stop-shop scheme, which sees wood such as chipboard, MDF and painted timber from civic amenity sites collected at source in the South and West of England, taken to Avonmouth and exported for use in a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant in Northern Germany.

As a result, the firm is to start also exporting material from ports in the South East and by road to Belgium, for use in lower-grade panelboard. It is also considering sending material to CHP plants in Sweden and will be expanding its service to Scotland.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Boomeco managing director and founder Oliver Latter explained that, while the service incurred a small charge to cover haulage costs, it was much cheaper than landfill and helped councils to stay within their landfill allowances. He said that the exact cost would depend on where a customer was located.

He said: “In Europe the material is paid for but after transport, loading, TFS notification unfortunately there is a haulage subsidy that has to be paid. But it is a lot cheaper than landfill and contributes to LATS targets.”

He added: “We have always operated traditionally under the radar but we have been exporting lower grade and clean wood for the past three years.”

Mr Latter explained that he had helped to negotiate supply contracts for the low quality material in Europe and that he had arrangements to send it to UK facilities once they were up-and-running in a few years' time.

He said: “I doubt we will still be exporting in two to three years' time because the UK is quickly catching Germany up in terms of WID compliant biomass facilities, but we have supply contracts for the plants being built.”

Councils 

Mr Latter said that Boomeco was already working with five councils in the South and South West and was taking wood from firms including Eco Sustainable Solutions (see letsrecycle.com story) and Growing Beds Recycling Services. The company accepts a range of specifications and single lorry loads or an entire ships' cargo and suppliers can select road, rail or sea transport.

Mark Evans, of Growing Beds, said: “Boomeco's ability to accept otherwise landfill destined biomass to both recycled and recovered markets that qualify under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme is like a manna from heaven.”

Boomeco's service for lower-grade waste wood forms just one part of its business. The company sources a range of wood biomass and residues for use in a variety of alternative markets. In total, Boomeco handles over 200,000 tonnes of wood a year, of which around 30% is lower grade waste wood, which Mr Latter claimed filled around two ships a month and was the only one of its kind in the UK.

Mr Latter explained that he expected more and more councils and companies to divert waste from landfill due to rising Landfill Tax, which currently stands at £40 a tonne and is set to rise by £8 a year until 2013.

He said: “There is going to be a lot more volume to capture. I believe there is at least five million tonnes which could be diverted from landfill.”