The facility forms the main technological solution for handling 240,000 tonnes of waste collected annually by Veolia under a 35 year integrated waste management contract with the city council, signed in 2001.
Of this waste, about 25% is recycled. Less than 14% is landfilled and much of this is only when the incinerator is closed for maintenance.
The success of the plant in delivering heat through 47 km of pipework was highlighted at an official opening of the facility last week by Veolia Environment Services' worldwide chief executive officer Denis Gasquet. He described the plant as “one of the most advanced examples including mainland Europe”.
The use of CHP is rare in UK terms because the heat is not usually collected for use and the European Commission is currently assessing how this should be reflected in policy towards energy from waste plants.
Mr Gasquet went on to highlight the landfill diversion achieved, but made little note of recycling within the city. He said: “Our innovative energy recovery facility reflects Sheffield's forward-looking approach to the environment and provides over 22,600 homes with electricity and over 140 buildings with heat. It is largely responsible for Sheffield sending less than 15% of its waste to landfill – which puts it second in the UK landfill diversion table and exemplifies how we convert waste into a resource.”
Recycling
The city council – currently hung in terms of political control – appears to be content to have reached a 25% recycling rate although some further gains to about 27-30% are expected.
The priority is on service delivery and this was reflected in words from Sir Robert Kerslake, the city council's chief executive, at the opening ceremony.
Sir Robert said: “We have seen a sustained delivery of services to residents in the city of Sheffield. There has been a combination of core services and development of an innovative facility. There has also been an open and honest dialogue with you [Veolia] and the city council.”
He revealed that in Sheffield, Veolia annually handles 11 million black bins, two million blue, and one million green totalling 240,000 tonnes of waste. Cardboard and paper is collected every four weeks in the blue bins and plastic bottle recycling facilities are located at bring sites.
And, the city chief executive also reminded the audience that the EfW plant had been built on the site of an old facility. “Eight years ago, at that time we had a pioneering plant but upgrades were not successful. We knew we would not meet the requirements in five years. This led on to the new contract and the key decision in the process was for us to define the outputs, decide what we wanted, and ask the private sector how best we could achieve this.”
Veolia UK's chief executive is Jean-Dominique Mallet who took up the post in June this year. Also speaking at the opening ceremony, he said that CHP “is widely recorded as technically best practice and by using this about 12,000 tonnes of carbon emissions saved”.
Heat from the plant is supplied to over 140 buildings across the city through a district energy network; this includes the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield City Hall and the Sheffield theatres.
(CHP and European policy – more about this can be seen in an article published today in this week's letsrecycle.com opinion section.)
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