Waste to get steam treatment

The initial phase of construction finished this week on the UK's first steam autoclave recycling plant in Gateshead, with the company behind the project claiming it was on track to open the plant in autumn next year.

Autoclaving works by putting mixed municipal black bag waste into a pressurised rotating drum and steaming it for up to an hour in a process that simultaneously separates plastic, glass and metals for recycling and sterilises organic waste, creating a biomass fibre that can be used to make paper and construction materials, or burnt as fuel in biomass power plants.

The plant, run by Graphite Resources, will be the biggest steam autoclave in the world and will form the centre piece of a new recycling hub in the North East, according to director William Thompson.

"Our Ecoparc will help to reduce our carbon footprint and produce a useful, recycled product at the end of the sterilisation and sorting process," he said.

When finished, the plant will handle about 320,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste, and industrial and commercial waste every year, all of which would otherwise have gone to landfill.

A further 60,000 tonnes of light waste, and 20,000 tonnes of green and skip waste will be handled separately by the company at the Ecoparc.

The EU Landfill Directive set targets for the UK to recycle 50 per cent of its household waste by 2020.

Recycled glass plastics and metals will be sold on, while the biomass fibre produced from any organic matter can be used in construction, as a fuel, or to make paper.

The project has substantial backing from Lehman Brothers Private Equity – an affiliate of collapsed US bank Lehman Brothers – as well as other investors including former conservative environment secretary, Lord Kenneth Baker, who also acts as non-executive chairman for the company.