The instruction to Rugby Cement was revealed last week to the community forum that monitors the progress of the company in its trials using tyres as a replacement for normal fossil fuels at the cement kiln at Lawford Road, Rugby.
Rugby Cement – now part of the Cemex Group – was forced to bring its tyre recovery trial to a halt following an incident on June 21, 2004, after just a few weeks of operation.
The incident that halted the trial involved the plant emitting particulate matter above permitted levels for almost three hours after filtration equipment failed but before the cement kiln was shut down (see letsrecycle.com story).
”We will review Rugby's progress in meeting the work plan toward the end of March 2005 when, if its performance is satisfactory, we will consider allowing the trial use of tyres as a partial substitute fuel to begin again.“
– Environment Agency
The Environment Agency said in August of last year that the company may be allowed to restart its tyre recovery trial after it submitted information required by the Agency's enforcement notice concerning the June incident.
The Agency has now addressed members of the Rugby Cement Community Forum on a number of issues concerning the operation of the site.
Understanding
The Agency told the forum that at a meeting in January Dr Paul Leinster, director of operations for the Agency, outlined what Rugby needed to do before the Agency would consider allowing it to restart trials.
He said that the company needed to improve their understanding of the regulatory regime, ensure adequate weight is given to resolving environmental problems and react promptly to complaints from local residents.
The report also explained the events which occurred in the lead up to the site being stopped from using waste tyres.
Failure
The main incident involved occurred on June 21 2004. Rugby reported a failure of part of its equipment designed to remove particulates in gases before they pass up the plant's stack. The failure caused dust to be released for a short period of time above the permitted levels. The company continued to burn tyres during the equipment failure, in breach of permit requirements, the Agency said.
A spokesperson for the Agency said: “We have undertaken a detailed investigation of the breach of permit conditions, involving formal interviews, under caution, of the company's senior management. We have concluded, having regard to our publicly available enforcement and prosecution policy, that the protective response of the enforcement notice is sufficient in this case.”
Following this meeting Rugby Cement presented a work plan to the Environment Agency Community Forum.
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A spokesperson for the Ageny said: “We will review Rugby's progress in meeting the work plan toward the end of March 2005 when, if its performance is satisfactory, we will consider allowing the trial use of tyres as a partial substitute fuel to begin again.”
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