Innovative landfill gas project receives £100m boost

An innovative new waste management project in Essex received a major boost yesterday after the government announced it has awarded more than £100m in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits to fund the proposals.

Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have been awarded the grant to fund proposals for a new Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant designed to help slash methane emissions from landfill.

MBT plants sort landfill waste into materials that can be recycled and composted, and those that are only suitable for landfill. The recyclable waste is then recycled, while the landfill waste is treated using a chemical process that reduces the amount of methane it will release.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said the project would not only help the council reach its goal of increasing recycling rates from 40 per cent currently to 60 per cent by 2020, but would also serve to reduce the environmental impact of that waste which cannot be recycled.

He added that the new plant would treat up to 350,000 tonnes of waste each year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 95,000 tonnes.

The council said it would begin the tendering process next month with a view to awarding a contract by late 2011. It added that the plant was scheduled to begin operation by 2015.

The award comes just days after a major new report from the London Assembly predicted that the capital's rubbish could be used by waste-to-energy plants to generate electricity for up to two million homes and heat for a further 625,000 homes.

The report from the Assembly's Environment Committee found that London produces enough waste to fill the Canary Wharf tower every eight days, and called for an overhaul of the region's waste strategy to promote the development of waste-to-energy plants.

It calculated that converting the waste into energy through anaerobic digestion, mechanical biological treatment, or thermal technologies such as pyrolysis and gasification, would not only slash the amount of waste going to landfill but also cut carbon emissions by 1.2 million tonnes a year.

The report called on the mayor's office to provide guidance to local boroughs on how to develop waste-to-energy plants, make it easier for such projects to obtain planning permission, and undertake an education programme to address public concerns over waste incineration.

Murad Qureshi AM, chair of the London Assembly Environment Committee, said the report's recommendations were "pragmatic" and would "contribute to a rapid roll-out of these very exciting technologies that turn waste into a useful and valuable commodity".

"London's waste management is unsustainable and uneconomical," he added. " The mayor must take the lead on further measures to help jump-start waste management step change. Waste-to-energy technology will help the capital reduce greenhouse gases, cut down on waste sent to landfill, increase renewable energy generation, benefit the economy and create jobs."