More and more so Waste in all its forms is being talked about as a fuel. But how far do we let this happen? When did we all stop considering the Waste Hierarchy? On a Duty of Care form which every waste movement must have we all tick the box that states we have applied for this “pecking order”

So what is the pecking order we should be considering?

Prevention

Reuse

Recycling

Recovery

Disposal

In an ideal world, all waste would be prevented. However, for a range of social, economic and practical reasons, this does not happen. Where waste does exist it is usually best to reuse it if possible, and if not, to recycle it. What can’t be recycled, the residual waste, could either go to energy recovery or as a last resort, landfill.

This little blog is just an open discussion to my thought that we have changed focus as an Industry, I have even found myself the last few months looking at material and thinking would this be a good fuel rather than could this be recycled, reprocessed and used again.

We have a company set up in Middlesbrough to create a product they are calling a SUB COAL, which is a waste-derived fuel with organic and plastic content which they will be selling to Cement Kilns over in Europe. Will this result in less recycling to create the spec and CV needed? Has the China situation resulted in more potential recyclable material being sent to energy recovery? Are we now using incineration as a form of disposal and justifying it as it creates heat and electricity?

Has the private sector seen feed-in tariffs and the abundance of waste as a business model to create Energy from Waste Plants? My worry is that there has not been a national plan, that as more EFW plants become operational that competition for the material will drive gate fees down thus incentivise waste company’s not to recycle and send to Energy Recovery.

Are people using EWF as an easy way to process now?

Are we doing what’s best or what’s easy?

Let me know your thoughts and opinions in the comments box below.