Shanks study finds need for more plants

The study, 'Municipal waste treatment, UK capacity forecast', finds that the UK is landfilling 5.6% fewer tonnes each year. By modelling this to 2020, it was found that landfill requirement would fall from about 32 million tonnes in 2009 to 6.5 million tonnes in 2020.

Provision of facilities to treat this waste, assuming an increase in recycling of 3 million tonnes, would need an additional 4.6 million tonnes of capacity, it says.

Such a figure, says Shanks, is 2.4 million tonnes more than currently planned and allowing for a failure of projects for a variety of reasons, an additional 2.2 million tonnes would be needed.

On recycling, the study comments that “further recycling is expected to reach practical limits and diminishing returns, while difficult wastes will continue to be landfilled”.

The recycling forecast in the study states that 32.6 million tonnes of waste is required to be recycled or composted to meet targets and that with a rate of 39%, some 24.5 million tonnes is being diverted from landfill. Assuming that an estimated 5.1 million tonnes of organic waste treatment capacity is met by 2010, only an additional 3 million tonnes of capacity will need to be brought on line, largely in the form of materials recycling facilities.

Inevitable

Commenting on the study, Ian Goodfellow, managing director of Shanks, said: “We have assessed the plans for capacity to meet the requirements of diversion for the  Landfill Directive and we have found there is a need to account for the inevitable shortfall in delivery because of planning permissions and projects that don't get let.”

Mr Goodfellow added: “I would encourage all parties that a percentage of over capacity is not a bad thing. Better to build contingency capacity in more facilities or in larger capacity than planned for other facilities to take account of the probability that not all plants will be built.”

And, Mr Goodfellow said that there needs to be some greater acceptance of the role of merchant facilities and that local authorities should consider allowing tonnage from outside of their facilities to be treated at them. “Energy is going to be increasingly important going forward and these facilities will be needed to treat waste. Recovery from energy is the next direction in the movement of waste away from landfill.”