And, the company, Remondis, has also emphasised the benefits of sending refuse derived fuel for incineration on the Continent including the fact that it should help encourage recycling in the UK as it would not be crowded out because of supply contracts for new incinerators in the UK.
The counterargument, made by some UK firms, to the German firms point of view, is that Remondis needs the material and so is simply seeking material for its own plants.
But, Egbert Tolle, Remondis main board director for the groups international business, takes the view that the UK can learn from the experience of waste management firms in Germany and the Netherlands.
He said: Germany and the Netherlands have over capacity in energy from waste to a large extent. When I see in the UK that you are building eight new plants, I assume you can only invest if this amortised over 25 years and if you have a contract with local government. You can now incinerate your material in Germany and the Netherlands.
Mr Tolle was speaking recently to a group of senior UK waste management industry figures who were guests of the company at its giant Lunen facility near Dortmund.
Caution
And, the message that incineration with energy recovery should be seen with a big note of caution also came from Norbert Rethmann, honorary chairman of the supervisory board of Rethmann Group, which owns the Remondis waste management business, the Rhenus logistics business and the SARIA animal byproducts business. Mr Rethmann is seen as one of Europes most knowledgeable and experienced individuals in the waste sector.
He explained that overcapacity has arisen partly because plants have been built in Europe specifically to burn RDF: there are plants for 8 million tonnes of material with 31 owners. Mr Rethmann said: Everyone wanted to build these plants to produce cheap electricity.
Mr Rethmann added that he expected the move to a circular economy and the increasing amount of recycling undertaken would also mean that incineration reduced as well as the fact that waste arisings were reducing. He said: Imports from the UK and Italy are contributing to the degree of utilisation but in the end plants will be closed.
And, he called for countries and councils in Europe to cooperate and exchange information on capacity. We should exchange information to take advantage of this market in Europe. I dont want to think about the problems, I feel compelled to solve them. We can learn a lot from each other.
Figures produced by Remondis show the big capacity gap that is now being met by the export of large volumes of refuse derived fuel from the UK including to companies such as SITA and Shanks who need the supply of material for their energy from waste plants in Holland.
The company also showed that according to Eunomia the UK could have a capacity for treatment of waste totalling 31.5 million tonnes in 2020 when arisings might only be 22.2 million.
And, this situation has already been reached in Holland and Germany (see table below)
Werner Hols, managing director of Remonds Region West (which includes the UK and northern Europe) said: The message we would like to convey is that for large UK companies is to participate at a good price in incineration in the Netherlands and then build a few new plants in the UK and parts of London.
Benefit
He added that UK local authorities could benefit if they sent residual waste for incineration on the continent. This would mean that Continental councils would pay part of the market price for English citizens.
And, Andrea Krajewski, who is responsible for sourcing material for incinerators run by Remondis and its partners, explained that the prices paid are cheaper than landfilling in the UK: she is keen to acquire RDF from Britain. And, she said that the use of RDF meant that there was an opportunity for the UK to grow recycling without the risk of an overcapacity of energy from waste plants.
The severity of the situation regarding overcapacity in northern Europe for incineration was highlighted by Mr Hols, who said: The truth is that these companies are starving at the moment. He noted that some companies are being sold at great losses and others are likely to be sold for far less than they were valued three years ago. He predicted that the closures will come in five to six years time, when the plants need reinvestment.
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