ENERGY FROM WASTE AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

NET-ZERO AND RESOURCE EFFICIENT BY 2050 THE BIRMINGHAM POLICY COMMISSION 2 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

FOREWORD

Waste, not least in terms of plastics, has had a high profile over this last year. There’s been the government’s Resources and Waste strategy, and a government manifesto commitment to levies on plastics and deposit return schemes. On the international front, Asia has rejected its former role as the West’s destination for low-grade recyclate. That lazy route of exporting the leftovers of our consumer society has closed. Few of us regret that change. It’s a move on from polluter pays to polluter sorts out its own mess.

At the same time, on a broader scale, industry and policy-makers have become more familiar with the term ‘circular economy’, and the wastefulness of its linear cousin. Waste hierarchies might have to wait a little longer for full public recognition.

When it comes to energy, the last 12 months have seen the further rise of renewables, the falling away of their costs, and ever increasing periods of coal-free generation.

But a fully circular economy is still some way into the future. As we have seen, we can no longer export our problems away. Nor will landfill remain an acceptable – or affordable – solution. Yet at the same time, we urgently demand ways to deliver low-carbon heat and power.

Energy from waste will remain an important part of this complex jigsaw. Yet on the face of it, energy from waste, low-carbon energy, and the circular economy are not obvious bedfellows. That’s why this report is of its time, and why I was pleased to chair its Commission.

Energy from waste is an essential intermediate technology, but it has to improve its act. The full utilisation of waste heat must be mandatory. Bringing together commercial and industrial enterprises around EfW plants in Resource Recovery Clusters has to be the solution.

Even that goal is a limited one. We should also use waste carbon emissions to produce new products – on site. The report uses the term ‘moving molecules’ rather than just electrons.

Then there is a further generation of energy from waste technologies – anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis. These too can increase our carbon efficiency and get us further up the waste hierarchy. But we also need research and an ever better pathway to the future. So I welcome the report’s call for a national Centre for the Circular Economy.

I greatly thank the many witnesses we met during the Commission’s work, and the Commissioners who gave freely of their time.

Lord Robin Teverson, Policy Commission Chair Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 3

ABOUT BIRMINGHAM ENERGY INSTITUTE

The Birmingham Energy Institute is the focal point for the University of Birmingham and its national and international partners, to create change in the way we deliver, consume and think about energy. Bringing together interdisciplinary research from across the University of Birmingham and working with government, industry and international partners, the BEI is developing and applying the technological innovation and original thinking required to create sustainable energy solutions.

Our global community is consuming more energy than ever. As we run out of time to contain climate change the BEI is upscaling their innovative technology solutions for applications across the globe and influencing and shaping policy on critical issues such as waste management, materials supply and decarbonisation of heat to shape the energy solutions of tomorrow.

The UK government is committed to bringing all greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050. The Midlands region is renowned for its ability to drive technology revolution and its nationally leading manufacturing and engineering base. The Birmingham Energy Institute is working with business, industry and policy stakeholders across the region to realise the transition to net-zero.

ABOUT ENERGY RESEARCH ACCELERATOR

The Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) draws on the expertise and world-class facilities of the Midlands Innovation group of universities – Aston, Birmingham, Cranfield, Keele, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Warwick, plus the British Geological Survey.

ERA is funded by Innovate UK, which has invested £60 million in 23 state-of-the-art facilities with an additional almost £120 million of co-investment provided by a range of industrial partners who are working with ERA on a range of projects across the Midlands.

The purpose of the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) is to work with UK government, industry and the higher education sector to undertake innovative research, develop the next generation of energy leaders, and demonstrate low-carbon technologies that help shape the future of the UK’s energy landscape. 4 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CONTENTS

Foreword 2

1: Executive summary 6

2: Squaring the circular economy and energy-from-waste 12

3: Waste disposal 2020 22

4: Wasted opportunities: the heat imperative 30

5: Electrons to molecules: circular EfW

and recycled CO2 36

6: The Resource Recovery Cluster: a Midlands case study 48

Appendix 1: Key to map, listing EfW and ERA assets, and a non-exclusive list of sample sites for Resource Recovery Clusters 60

Appendix 2: Commissioners’ biographies 62

Chair Dr Matthias Franke With thanks to Lord Robin Teverson Professor Andreas Hornung Chris Jonas, Tolvik Consulting Peter Jones Paul Winstanley, Thornfield Technology Ltd Academic Lead Daniel Mee Dr Jhuma Sadhukan, University of Surrey Professor Martin Freer Matthew Rhodes Adrian Smith Project Manager Commissioners Professor Patricia Thornley Dr Emily Prestwood Dr David Boardman Dr Helen Turner Adam Chase Dr Stuart Wagland Editor David Strahan

© University of Birmingham 2020 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 5

LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES

1. The Resource Recovery Cluster 8 1. Prices and quantities of various recycled materials 18 2. Energy-from-waste plants, centres of academic 2. UK waste arisings, recycling and recovery 2016 23 expertise, and sample post-industrial sites in 3. UK packaging waste recycling rates 2015 and 2016 25 the Midlands 10 3. The circular economy 14 4. The waste hierarchy 14 5. Emissions savings per tonne of source-segregated waste 15 LIST OF BOXES 6. Global resource flows 16 7. Municipal waste treatment in 2017 (EU28 1. Life cycle assessment 19 + Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) 20 2. Second generation EfW technologies 21 8. UK waste arisings breakdown 2016 23 3. The economics of the waste business 27 9. Local authority collected waste management 4. What is the right size for a Resource 2001–17 24 Recovery Cluster? 54 10. Household recycling 24 11. Plastic packaging: UK recycling and exports 25 12. UK recovered plastic export destinations (Jan–Jun 2019) 26 13. UK residual waste market by treatment method 26 LIST OF CASE STUDIES 14. EfW energy per tonne of waste by country 31 15. Amager Bakke EfW plant in Copenhagen 32 16. UK AD plants by feedstock 37 Amager Bakke, Copenhagen 32 17. Combined mechanical and chemical recycling Birmingham heat network 34 of plastics 39 Nottingham heat network 35 18. Combined mechanical and chemical recycling Scunthorpe AD plant and cardboard manufacturing 38 could raise recycling rate from 52% to 84% of Chemical recycling of plastics 39 plastics received 39 Biomass pyrolysis for carbon-negative fuels and feedstock 40 19. Thermo-Catalytic Reforming of biomass to Community-scale waste gasification 42 produce synthetic transport fuels 40 ETI decentralised gasification of waste and biomass 43 20. Kew Technology’s plan for decentralised, Carbon capture fertiliser 44 community-scale gasification plants 42 Netherlands incinerator carbon capture for greenhouses 45 21. Carbon capture fertiliser production process 45 Carbon capture building materials 46 22. Aggregates made from incinerator air pollution Beacon Project, Binn EcoPark 54 control residues (APCr) 46 Tyseley Energy Park 56 23. The Resource Recovery Cluster 50 East Midlands post-industrial sites 58 24. Energy-from-waste plants and available Black Country smelting revival 59 post-industrial sites in the Midlands 53 25. The Beacon Project at Binn Farm, Glenfarg, Perthshire 55 A note on terminology 26. The Beacon Project Advanced Plastics Recycling Facility 55 In the waste industry, the term energy-from-waste (EfW) 27. Tyseley Energy Park Plan 56 is often used as a synonym – or perhaps euphemism 28. Tyseley Energy Park Wood Gasifier and – for incinerators. This is because incinerators are the Low-Carbon Fuel Station 57 predominant technology and generally unpopular with 29. Computer-generated image showing proposed the public. There are, however, other energy-from-waste design of EMERGE Centre building 58 technologies, such as AD, pyrolysis and gasification. In this report, we use ‘EfW’ only as an umbrella term. No inherent criticism is meant in our use of the word incinerator. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 7

Disposing of waste is a vital public service that protects society WE CAN ACHIEVE THIS IN THREE STEPS from infection and infestation. The waste industry, though hardly popular, has performed this role well over the years. And for many of us, after we throw our rubbish in the bin, it’s out of Exploit the waste heat of existing and new EfW plants. sight and out of mind. 1 Britain’s incinerators are the most carbon-intensive generation on the UK grid after coal, largely because But now we and the industry face a major challenge. The only one-in-five plants makes any use of its waste heat. main methods of waste disposal in Britain today, landfill and Scandinavian plants, where incinerators are used for incineration, emit large amounts of greenhouse gases and district heating, emit scarcely a quarter as much per squander valuable resources – both energetic and material. It is unit of energy. widely agreed this cannot continue, but there is less consensus about what to do. We believe the Midlands could lead the way. Develop and roll out second-generation EfW The problem is getting more complicated. We no longer have 2 technologies including AD, pyrolysis and gasification, only CO2 to worry about, but also our resource efficiency – or which turn waste into molecules and products as well inefficiency – which, in a finite world, is clearly unsustainable. as energy. On average, each kilogramme of products consumed in the UK takes 10kg of material to produce, of which 9kg is discarded as waste. In other words, measured by weight, our resource Roll-out proven small-scale carbon capture 1 3 economy is just 10% efficient. Then there is rising public technologies that turn CO2 into (for example) building concern about plastic waste, reinforced by appalling TV products and fertiliser, and greatly boost R&D in images of marine litter. this field.

Time is getting tighter, too. Britain lacks the capacity to deal with all the waste it produces and exports millions of tonnes. But now countries in the Far East have rightly banned unwanted National policy reforms must include a more Scandinavian shipments of waste from developed countries. Britain still exports approach to heat, major public investment in infrastructure 3.5 million tonnes of waste to Europe, but the Netherlands has and strengthened support for R&D and VC-stage technologies. recently imposed tariffs, and a no-deal Brexit could cause a Together, this would greatly improve resource efficiency; start to waste crisis at the end of this year. The difficulty of managing decarbonise heat, one of our toughest challenges; and set EfW these challenges is compounded by datasets that are incomplete on course to reach net-zero by 2050. and incompatible. We recommend many detailed reforms in this report but believe For some, the answer is clear: we need a ‘circular economy’ that meeting this challenge depends critically on three major with much higher levels of recycling, which both conserves innovations: building a network of local and regional Resource resources and cuts CO2 emissions. If we achieve that, they Recovery Clusters; creating a national Centre for the Circular argue, we won’t need energy-from-waste (EfW) plants, which Economy, and launching an R&D Grand Challenge to develop are mostly incinerators that generate only electricity, because we small-scale circular carbon capture technologies. won’t have any rubbish left to burn. Worse, they claim, the very existence of incinerators discourages recycling, so we must get rid of them.

We entirely agree that everything must be done to raise recycling rates. But the choice is not binary. Changing large infrastructure systems takes time, and there are newer EfW technologies like anaerobic digestion (AD), and pyrolysis and gasification plants, which could play an integral part in the circular economy. And however high we manage to raise recycling rates – currently stuck at about 45% – there will always be some residual waste. In some ways, this may not be a problem but an opportunity.

We believe some EfW will always be necessary but that it must be made more circular and lower-emitting. And we are convinced that with the right changes in policy the industry can plot a path to become zero-emission and resource-efficient by 2050. With far higher recycling rates, it will be a smaller industry than today but potentially more valuable. It will certainly be more integrated with recycling systems and local economies. 8 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

The Resource The clusters would reduce CO2 emissions deep expertise in recycling and EfW Recovery Cluster and improve circularity in the short-term technologies; develop strategy; and make but would also support the innovation policy recommendations. The CCE would needed to reach net-zero and far more draw on national materials-flow databases Waste and energy from waste are circular economy by 2050. The Midlands developed in Far Eastern countries such as inherently local issues, and we believe has plenty of suitable post-industrial sites, Taiwan and consider how to replicate them they demand a local and regional including recently de-commissioned here. Crucially, it would provide expert approach. We propose a network of coal-fired power stations (see Figure 2), guidance and support for local authorities new Resource Recovery Clusters (RRC), redundant surface mines and former as they develop local or regional strategies developed on post-industrial sites, which manufacturing plants. and planning frameworks. Another could produce significant environmental important role would be to set ‘accounting’ and economic benefits. The RRCs would standards for life cycle assessment (LCA). combine a spread of EfW and recycling The Centre for technologies with businesses that can the Circular Economy On climate, the government has long consume their cheap electricity, heat, recognised the need for the robust,

fuels, CO2 and material outputs – so independent advice and scrutiny provided greatly reducing carbon intensity and At a national level, we urge the by the Committee on Climate Change improving circularity (see Figure 1). government to set up a new national (CCC). The CCE could perform a similar Centre for the Circular Economy (CCE). role. The two bodies would be jointly This idea chimes with existing work by Despite a plethora of recent reports, our tasked with resolving any conflicts BEIS and the Department for International understanding of resources and waste between climate and resource priorities. Trade, known as the Load Creation Model, still lags our understanding of greenhouse designed to lure inward investment by gas emissions. The CCE would analyse providing secure, economic and low- material flows throughout the economy carbon energy supplies. down to regional and local levels; develop

FIGURE 1: THE RESOURCE RECOVERY CLUSTER

RESIDUAL WASTE

GA S/H ELE 2 N CTR ETW ICIT O Ai Y RK r pollution co HE N ntrol r AT E esidu N TW DATA CENTRE es ( E O APC TW R HEA r) O K RK FOOD PLANT T

COOLING

r pe Pa

ELECTRICITY PRODUCTS Incinerator with CCS Aggregates

Materials Recovery Absorption Facility (MRF) chillers

ELECTRICITY PRODUCTS

Paper manufacturer Greenhouses Resource Recovery Plastics Cluster Light engineering Fertiliser

l a & i r e e t t a a t s m

e r ig e h D t o

2 BIOMASS GAS/H Electrolyser Anaerobic digester

H2 STATION

GAS/H Mechanical Bio-fuels

recycling Station 2 PRODUCTS

KEY Chemical recycling Pyrolysis Onsite waste transfer (pyrolysis)

BIOMASS Onsite product transfer

CO2 recycling PRODUCTS Heat transfer Electricity transfer PLASTICS FACTORY

Gas/H2 transfer Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 9

R&D grand challenge The Midlands

Achieving net-zero in the waste system The Midlands is not a unified political Developments in waste export markets will depend on making big advances in entity, but its size, diversity and resources imply deadlines that are even more small-scale carbon capture. Technologies make it an ideal region in which to pilot pressing. So we have a narrow window in to turn CO2 from EfW into useful products our ideas. The region covers a major which to make the right choices to avoid already exist and are economic, but so urban conurbation in the west and less carbon lock-in or stranded assets, and far capture only a small proportion of the densely populated rural areas in the east; make sure we can still benefit from future

CO2 emitted. We urge the government a variety of political structures including innovation in waste, energy and green to launch an R&D grand challenge for regional, unitary and two-tier authorities; chemistry. small-scale carbon capture so that and many post-industrial sites that could

100% of CO2 from an EfW plant can become Resource Recovery Clusters. If Britain develops compelling answers to be economically captured and turned into It also boasts deep and widespread this challenge, it could unlock a massive useful products. Encouraging ways to use academic expertise in energy. These global export opportunity. Almost 1,000

CO2 rather than sequester it is particularly characteristics mean it could be an EfW plants exist worldwide, with a total important for areas such as the Midlands excellent test bed to demonstrate the capacity of 13.7GW, of which incinerators that are remote from depleted oil and gas potential of the RRCs for the country account for 11.6GW, and there is huge reservoirs. The government has promised as a whole. unmet demand for waste processing in to raise its R&D spending to £22 billion China, the Middle East and Africa.4 It is by 2024–25, including £800 million for The economic benefits to the Midlands also a great opportunity to demonstrate a new ARPA-style blue skies funding could be large. An analysis by Advantage UK leadership at COP26. agency. This is exactly the kind of West Midlands (AWM) in 2010 found that challenge it should tackle. in the West Midlands the wholesale cost of energy, compost and fertiliser totalled £3.9 billion, while the wholesale value of the carbon contained in the region’s waste was almost £500 million.2

Our proposals are evidently urgent, and not simply because of the rising climate chaos. The UK has recently legislated the world’s first net-zero target for 20503, and the West Midlands Combined Authority has set 2041 as its regional target. 10 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

FIGURE 2: ENERGY-FROM WASTE PLANTS, CENTRES OF ACADEMIC EXPERTISE, AND SAMPLE POST-INDUSTRIAL SITES IN THE MIDLANDS. SEE APPENDIX 1 FOR FULL LIST OF SITES.

Key ERA University Existing EfW Potential RRC Case Study Energy Innovation Zone

RECOMMENDATIONS

We urge the government to: proportion of their gas comes Circularity from low-carbon sources such as n Standardise and level-up the Heat biomethane or sustainably produced separation of waste streams at source n Ban the building of new incinerators hydrogen. and make good on the waste strategy’s except those which make full use n Increase support for district heating promise to fund local authorities to of their waste heat, IBA and APCr networks tenfold. Current funding for provide separate collections. residues, and a rising proportion of the HNDU/HNIP programme is £320 n Introduce fiscal measures to shift the

their CO2. Even now, incinerators million – plus a further £270 million balance from virgin to recycled continue to gain planning permission announced in the budget of March materials, and to move waste streams without such obligations, potentially 2020.5 The IPPR calculates that if up the waste hierarchy. The proposed

locking us into high-CO2 electricity- government raised this to £3 billion, tax on any plastics containing less than only plants for decades to come. it would lever in private investment of 30% recycled material would be a This must stop. £22 billion, enough to supply 10% of good start, but the same approach n Consider introducing an efficiency UK heat by 2030, the target set by the should be extended to a much wider ratchet, which would oblige operators Committee on Climate Change (CCC). range of materials. of future and existing plants to meet We believe the government should n Introduce business rate (or other tax) rising efficiency standards by target commit to raise HNIP funding to the relief for companies relocating to new dates. This would force operators to level needed to achieve the CCC Resource Recovery Clusters provided find users – probably industrial – for target – raising it tenfold to £3 billion they demonstrate both circularity and their waste heat and would support the if necessary. carbon reduction. development of Resource Recovery n Offer the HNIP funding approach n Introduce ‘renewable fertiliser obligation’ Clusters. to any Resource Recovery Clusters – modelled on the RTFO – which would n Introduce ‘green gas obligation’ – established around existing electricity- oblige suppliers to incorporate a rising like the Renewable Transport Fuel only incinerators. proportion of non-fossil fertiliser in their Obligation (RTFO) scheme – so that n End the uncertainty about the sales. This would stimulate more suppliers have to ensure a rising RHI and renew or replace it. investment into – for example – Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 11

upgrading AD digestate into properly n Support councils to solve the problem The ETI was highly successful, for formulated fertiliser. of contract cliff-edges, where towards example, in bringing down the price the end of a heat network operator’s of offshore wind, but its public-private Support for local authorities contract it becomes uneconomic to funding model meant that the resulting n Task upper-tier and strategic regional take on new connections (see page IP was kept in private hands. We favour authorities to lead infrastructure 33). Fixing this should be possible with a model that produces communal assessment and planning for some kind of ‘transfer of undertakings’ knowledge, which may imply a higher Resource Recovery Centres. from one operator to the next, but the proportion of public funding or a n Revise the National Planning Policy problem is widespread and illustrates different approach to tax relief. Framework to ensure local authorities the lack of capacity among councils have powers to impose conditions to deal with these contractual issues. Industry around circularity and greenhouse gas n Oblige industries that manufacture emissions on developers of waste and Technology hard-to-recycle products to produce recycling facilities. The government n Launch an R&D grand challenge for roadmaps showing how they will has an early opportunity to do this in small-scale carbon capture and reuse reach ‘net-zero and resource-efficient’

its forthcoming planning white paper. so that 100% of CO2 from an EfW by 2050. Sectors would include n Support local authorities in developing plant can be economically captured mattresses, tyres, paint, nappies and Resource Recovery Clusters. After and turned into useful products. electrical and electronic. This should

a decade of austerity, most local Encouraging ways to use CO2 rather form part of a broader strategy authorities lack the resources and than sequester it is particularly to impose Extended Producer capacity to tackle waste and energy important for areas such as the Responsibility (EPR) across challenges, and this is one of the Midlands that are remote from the economy. biggest barriers to progress. The new depleted oil and gas reservoirs. The n Oblige all companies making Centre for the Circular Economy will government has committed to raise LCA claims in marketing or other have little impact if local authorities UK R&D spending to £22 billion per communications to publish at a lack the capacity to act upon its advice year, and both EfW and the circular minimum the ‘goal and scope note’ and adapt it to local circumstances. economy deserve significant support. of their analysis. This sets out the The government must rebuild local n Fund R&D in high-priority areas. In objectives, boundaries, methodology authorities’ financial and human biogas, this should include research and assumptions of the analysis, resources so they are able to develop into yield improvement, digestate and identifies the datasets used. strategy and let and manage upgrading and centralised gas This would allow others to understand commercial contracts. injection. In pyrolysis and gasification, and challenge the claims made, while n Fund councils to map the area around the main priority is to mount full-scale keeping proprietary data confidential. each UK incinerator, particularly those demonstrators. Developing small-scale, remote from sources of heat and economic technologies that capture Local and regional authorities n cooling demand, for land that might all the CO2 emissions of EfW plants Local authorities may be weakened be available and suitable for new is exactly the sort of challenge the and need central government to Resource Recovery Clusters. government’s new ARPA-style ‘blue restore their financial and human n Where mapping shows potential, skies’ funding agency is intended resources (see above). But until then provide financial support to help to tackle. they can still play a significant role. develop the first few Resource n Reinstate ETI-style venture capital Even with existing powers, councils Recovery Clusters – as in Scotland support for waste technology and regional authorities could and (see case study, page 54). companies facing the valley of death should promote the introduction of – such as pyrolysis and gasification Resource Recovery Clusters through – which could be run as competitions. planning policy and strategy, and by integrating waste and energy planning within their organisation. 2. SQUARING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND ENERGY-FROM-WASTE Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 13

The circular economy recycling typically consumes less energy a dreadful impact on the carbon footprint than primary production, savings in cost of packaging’.10 Recycling old plastic

and CO2. bottles as fleeces might seem a good, The basic ideas of the circular economy circular idea at first sight11, but now it are hardly new, but they are increasingly The idea of the circular economy has emerges that fleeces shed microfibres12 urgent. Hand-me-downs the milkman developed over the last 50 years or so in that cause all sorts of environmental collecting his empties, and the local the academic literature, and is now being damage such as stunting the growth electrical repair shop were all taken up by governments. Since 2006, of earthworms.13 commonplace within living memory. China has included circular economy Now we live in a world of plastic cutlery ideas in its five-year plans. In 2015, the In Britain, the most active promoter and ‘fast fashion’, where for many it seems EU adopted a Circular Economy Action of the idea is the Ellen MacArthur impossible to walk down the high street Plan with recycling targets for municipal Foundation, which since 2013 has without the latest hard-to-recycle waste, packaging waste and individual explored its resource, environmental and smartphone in one hand and an un- materials, and in 2018 introduced another economic potential in a series of reports.14 recyclable coffee cup in the other. Our plan for plastics6. That same year, the UK The circular economy is based on three ever-accelerating consumption demands government launched its resources and principles: design waste out of products that we consider not only the CO2 we waste strategy for England (waste is a and production processes; keep products pour into the atmosphere, but also the devolved responsibility for Scotland, and materials in use; and regenerate finite resources we hack from the earth. Wales and Northern Ireland), which also natural systems. committed to move towards a circular Yet the public mood is turning. People economy.7 As shown in Figure 3, the idea are increasingly alarmed about spiralling distinguishes between biological and climate disasters – from bush fires to Big business has also embraced technical cycles. In the biological cycles, floods – and some are turning politically the concept almost across the board, food, sewage and other biological militant: witness Extinction Rebellion. That perhaps because it offers financial as well materials such as cotton or wood, are awareness is now spreading to the issue as resource savings. Supporters range processed to recover useful materials of waste, particularly plastic, reinforced from investors such as Black Rock, tech and energy, and then returned to the soil by appalling images of marine litter in the giants Google and Dell, and engineering to restore its structure and nutrients. In BBC’s Blue Planet series. companies like Schneider Electric. The technical cycles, products are kept in use biggest concentration of support is for as long as possible through sharing Whereas climate change is about keeping among consumer-goods companies and and repairing, and then broken for parts,

CO2 out of the atmosphere, the circular retailers, however, whose customers are or the materials are recycled so that finite economy is about keeping materials – appalled by TV images of marine pollution. resources are kept in play for as long as glass, plastic, wood, metals, chemicals, In Britain, 120 companies representing possible. plant fibres – circulating in the economy two-thirds of consumer plastic packaging for as long as possible. The idea is to have joined the UK Plastics Pact, with a replace the current ‘linear’ economy – in series of targets for 2025 against which which we extract resources, turn them into significant progress has been made.8 products, use them once and then throw them away – with a more circular system, While plastic waste is clearly a huge in which products are repaired and problem, there are signs that the focus re-used, and materials recycled, to on plastic is producing unintended extract the maximum use from the primary consequences. Unilever has promised to resources. The benefits should include halve its use of virgin plastic by 20259, but slower resource depletion, less damage its boss insists that a ‘hysterical move to to the natural world and, because glass may be trendy but it would have 14 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

FIGURE 3: THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY. SOURCE: ELLEN MACARTHUR FOUNDATION.15

As the Figure 3 graphic makes clear, the FIGURE 4: THE WASTE HIERARCHY whole idea is to minimise the amount of material that goes to energy-from-waste (EfW) or to landfill. More generally, the priorities of the circular economy are expressed in the Waste Hierarchy (Figure 4). Only after prevention of waste, re-use PREVENTION and recycling should EfW be considered, and disposal in landfill is the last resort. PREPARING FOR RE-USE There is no doubt that our current, linear economy creates mountains of waste, mostly invisible to the consumer. According to a major study co-ordinated RECYCLING by Biffa ten years ago, in the UK, each kilogramme of products takes on average ten kilos to produce, or 100 if water is (ENERGY) included.16 So although we are used RECOVERY to thinking of capitalist economies as efficient, in resource terms they are anything but. For every supermarket DISPOSAL delivery van idling in your street, the resources required to produce its contents would fill another nine, and those resources have been – literally or metaphorically – dumped into a skip. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 15

The Biffa study also found that Britons a proper recycling market, therefore, the through resource efficiency measures collectively consumed around 30 million UK’s plastic waste could provide around that would cost little or nothing to tonnes of food and 30 million tonnes of 70% of its demand. Likewise, the UK implement.20 The Ellen Macarthur other products, a total of around one could halve its cobalt imports by recycling Foundation calculates the circular tonne per person per year. the 9,000 tonnes currently exported as economy could save European scrap in end-of-life products. It could businesses $630 billion per year.21 For the world as a whole, the 10% also triple its domestic steel recycling efficiency ratio remains broadly true (see to 6 million tonnes, which would reduce The main aim of the circular economy

Figure 5). But for many modern gadgets, iron ore imports by 40% and the CO2 is to improve resource productivity rather the ratio is even worse: producing a 200g emissions of steelmaking by 30%.18 than cut carbon emissions, but recycling smartphone consumes raw materials usually achieves that too, according to weighing 86kg.17 The losses imposed by the linear a recent paper from scientists at the economy are not just material but also University of Southampton. That’s There is also no doubt that this ‘waste’ is financial. Separate research by the Green because recycling materials typically in fact a huge resource. Analysis by the Alliance has found that ‘£1.7 billion worth consumes less energy than producing Green Alliance in 2018 found that the UK of just three materials – plastics, food and new ones, especially for mined materials imports 3.3 million tonnes of plastics each electronics – are lost to the UK economy such as aluminium and steel (see Figure year, of which only 0.6 million tonnes is each year because our collection 6). The paper’s authors stress, however, recycled (mostly abroad), and 2.3 million systems do not enable domestic reuse that some of the data is poor and the tonnes ends up in landfill or incinerators. or recycling’.19 The government estimates results highly sensitive to underlying If government measures could stimulate businesses could save £3 billion a year assumptions.22

FIGURE 5: EMISSIONS SAVINGS PER TONNE OF SOURCE-SEGREGATED WASTE. SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON.23

Net emission factor (kg CO2e/t)

Aluminium cans Aluminium foil Mixed cans Aerosols Textiles and footwear Mattresses Mixed plastics Steel cans Fridges and freezers Light bulbs and fluorescent tubes Car tyres Paper Composite food and drink cartons Wood (inc. chipboard) Furniture Glass Card Carpets Rubble Plasterboard Soil Paint 1000 0 -1000 -2000 -3000 -4000 -5000 -6000 -7000 -8000 16 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

FIGURE 6: GLOBAL RESOURCE FLOWS SOURCE: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC/CIRCLE ECONOMY Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 17 18 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

Recycling and its limits

The ideal is ‘closed loop’ recycling, in which the material is recycled in a form pure enough to produce an identical product to that from which it came, but the norm is ‘open loop’ recycling, or ‘downcycling’, which produces progressively cruder material each time.

When paper is re-pulped, for example, the fibres break and shorten, meaning the paper that can be produced from them will be a coarser grade. As a result, paper TABLE 1: PRICES AND QUANTITIES OF VARIOUS RECYCLED MATERIALS. fibres are usually recycled only around SOURCE: WRAP.24 four to six times before they end up in an incinerator. Toilet paper clearly ends up PRICE £ PER TOTAL RECOVERED/RECYCLED – at a sewage works, where it may be fed RECYCLATE 2019 WRAP 2017 UK STATISTICS ON WASTE along with the rest of the waste into an TONNE KTONNES anaerobic digester to produce energy. GLASS In plastics, there are two types of Clear 20 recycling: mechanical and chemical. In Amber 17 mechanical recycling, the difficulty is 1,623 separating the different types of plastic Green 15 (such as PET or HDPE) so that when it is Mixed 10 melted and reformed, the new pellets will have the same chemical properties as METALS virgin material. Since cross-contamination Aluminium cans 765 924 is inevitable, this means plastics will Steel cans 100 of which aluminium: 94 typically recycle a handful of times, of which steel: 431 downcycling each time from (say) drinks Mixed cans 130 bottles, to car fittings to garden furniture, PLASTICS and will finally end up in an incinerator. Clear PET bottles 222.5 Chemical recycling can cope with mixed plastics by reducing it through pyrolysis to Coloured PET bottles 50 near-virgin quality oil, from which a range Natural HDPE bottles 490 1,044 of new products can be made. Pyrolysis Mixed HDPE 385 typically consumes around a fifth of the plastic for energy, although in principle Mixed polymer this energy could be provided from renewable sources. PAPER News and PAM 87.5 Since recycling consumes energy – some OCC (Old corrugated 25 electricity and a lot of heat – there may containers) 3,754 be circumstances in which it is mistaken Mixed paper and 22 to recycle. A recent unpublished analysis board by scientists at the University of Birmingham compared the pyrolysis TEXTILES AND FOOTWEAR technology marketed by Waste2Tricity, Bank 195 which converts plastic into hydrogen Charity 333 to displace oil in transport, with an alternative scenario in which the plastic WOOD was recycled three times and then High-grade wood 8 incinerated. It found the hydrogen route 411 Low-grade wood 36 would produce lower emissions. If so, it suggests the waste hierarchy can sometimes be misleading. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 19

Energy from waste BOX 1: Life cycle survey by Felix Mayer and colleagues assessment assessed 315 LCA studies of EfW technologies found that ‘a majority’ Energy-from-waste is an umbrella term Judging which of several alternatives were marked by shortcomings and ‘poor covering a range of technologies, but as is the better environmental course compliance’ with the ISO standards.25 things stand, it is effectively a euphemism of action depends on life cycle More than 45% of the papers failed to for incinerators, since these currently assessment (LCA), which has publish a life cycle inventory – listing dominate the waste industry. Incinerators developed since the 1970s as a way the datasets used – and the survey burn residual waste to drive a steam of comparing products, technologies concluded that ‘many authors refrain turbine to generate electricity, and only or energy processes in the round. LCA from this step, potentially to reduce one-in-five plants makes any use of its can be used to compare not only CO2 the vulnerability of their work’. waste heat. Even today, incinerators emissions, but also other kinds of continue to gain planning permission environmental impact such as ozone, Worse, we have found that with no obligation to secure users for acidification, eutrophication or land-use companies making environmental their waste heat. changes. It can also be used to assess – that is, marketing – claims about the economic and social costs and performance of their technology often Since half the fuel it incinerates is benefits. refuse to share the underlying LCA, organic, the waste industry likes to stress claiming it is ‘confidential’. This could the ‘renewable’ aspect of the electricity LCA could be used to compare be because the company needs to it produces.27 But since incinerators also disposable and washable nappies, for protect proprietary processes, but it is burn a lot of plastic, and since steam example: one uses lots of plastic, the clearly also susceptible to commercial turbines are inefficient, that is misleading. other lots of water, but which is better interests. LCA is particularly vulnerable Once coal is banished from the grid in for the environment overall? Done to such pressure since its conclusions 2024, incinerators will be the highest properly, the calculation must take into depend critically on where the analyst CO2-emitting form of baseload electricity account every stage of each life cycle, draws the system boundaries, and generation.28 We estimate Britain’s from producing the oil to make the what he or she chooses as the incinerators emit 0.440tCO2/MWh, more plastic, on the one hand, or planting ‘counterfactual’ or benchmark than double the 2018 grid average of the cotton seed on the other, all the comparison. This perhaps explains why 0.208tCO2/MWh (see chapter 4 for way through to recycling or disposal several witnesses to the commission calculation). This is hardly the industry’s in landfill or an incinerator. It must used the phrase ‘Lies, damned lies, fault, since it doesn’t control the account for all the energy and and life cycle assessment’. composition of society’s waste, but nor resources consumed and waste is it sustainable – even in the short term. streams produced, and the analysis It is for these reasons we think must also be geographically specific; government should make it obligatory Incinerators are already circular, however, agricultural and industrial practices for all companies making LCA-type to the extent that they recycle incinerator differ between countries. claims about their products and bottom ash (IBA) and air pollution control services to publish from their life cycle residues (APCr). Almost all IBA is Done rigorously and transparently, analyses, at a minimum, the ‘goal and recycled as aggregates for roadbuilding, LCA can provide invaluable insights to scope definition’ note.26 This would and about a fifth of air APCr is also policy-makers. But unfortunately, much open them to scrutiny and challenge recycled. of it falls far short of the standards set but allow their intellectual property to out in ISO14040-44. One academic remain protected. 20 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

Squaring the circle

So, if EfW today is carbon-intensive and The Confederation of European Energy- incinerator capacity can and does co-exist not very circular, whereas recycling saves from-Waste Plants (CEWEP) calculates with high levels of recycling, and the near

CO2 and conserves resources, in an ideal that if the EU achieves its 65% recycling elimination of landfill (Figure 7). In the world we would recycle everything and target, and assuming landfill is reduced Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia, burn nothing. In principle, we agree this to 7%, then it would still need 142 million it is illegal to send mixed municipal waste should be the goal, but unfortunately, it’s tonnes of EfW capacity, 49 million tonnes to landfill, which is reserved for soils or not that simple. more than now.29 Using the same hazardous waste. The recycling and approach, the UK would need 18 million incineration rates in these countries are To start with, the household recycling rate tonnes of capacity, an increase of 6.4 not wildly dissimilar from those of the UK, in the UK is just 45%. It rose steeply in million tonnes.30 3.4 million tonnes of but the amount of energy extracted from the early part of the century but more capacity is currently under construction.31 residual waste certainly is. recently has hit a plateau. Recovering the upward trajectory depends on major Nor will existing EfW assets disappear It is also true that EfW plants can be reform of waste collection services, to quickly: incinerators have 30-year lives, far less carbon-intensive than they are in improve the separation and quality of and many have been built in the last Britain today. We estimate incinerators

waste streams, and of recycling markets, decade since the landfill tax started to in the UK emit an average of 0.44tCO2/ to sharpen the economic incentives to bite; the average age is 11.4 years.32 Even MWh (see chapter 4 for calculation). In industry. The government is due to issue so, we may still have too little capacity to Scandinavian countries, almost all EfW a second consultation on its proposals deal with all our waste if exports to the EU plants are integrated into district heating this year (see chapter 3). are cut off in the event of a no-deal Brexit. networks and their emissions per unit of energy are much lower. In Copenhagen, Britain, like the EU, has targeted a Supporters of the circular economy for example, the Amager Bakke plant

65% recycling rate by 2035. This looks often argue that the very existence emits 0.12tCO2/MWh in normal operation

stretching, if Europe is anything to go by. of incinerators suppresses recycling (electricity and heat), and just 0.086tCO2/ But even if the target were achieved, we because financing the plants depends MWh when producing heat only (see would still need more EfW capacity on long-term contracts for waste. There is case study, Amager Bakke, page 32).34 because of the large amounts of some truth to this, but the evidence from waste being diverted from landfill. northern European countries shows high

FIGURE 7: MUNICIPAL WASTE TREATMENT IN 2017 (EU28 + ICELAND, NORWAY AND SWITZERLAND). BASED ON EUROSTAT FIGURES, 2019. SOURCE: CEWEP.33 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 21

There are significant barriers to exploiting the waste heat of EfW in the UK, but they BOX 2: Second-generation purely organic, the resulting ‘biochar’ are entirely surmountable, as we EfW technologies can be spread on fields to improve soil explore in chapter 4. structure. Char can also be used to sequester carbon permanently, meaning Britain’s failure so far to exploit fully the Anaerobic digestion (AD) processes the energy or fuel produced can even waste heat of EfW is one reason it has food and crop wastes through the be CO2-negative. not decarbonised heat anything like action of bacteria in the absence of as much as electricity. Compared to oxygen. In other words, it replicates Gasification is similar to pyrolysis but electricity (and even transport, where the workings of an animal’s stomach heats the material to around 800°C the elements of a strategy are becoming to produce biogas, comprising methane with limited oxygen. This produces a clearer) decarbonising heat remains the and CO2, and digestate, a nutrient- ‘dirty syngas’ comprising hydrogen, outstanding challenge, and is at least laden liquid. The biogas can be burned carbon monoxide, methane and other as important as raising recycling rates. in a gas engine to produce electricity compounds. This can either be burned Increasing the proportion of incinerators’ and heat, or upgraded into biomethane to raised steam to generate electricity waste heat that is put to good use should and used for transport fuel or injected and heat, although this is inefficient, or be a higher priority than shrinking their into the gas grid. Since the CO2 comes further processed to produce a clean capacity. from recently grown organic sources syngas of hydrogen and carbon it is generally discounted as a monoxide. This can then be used to Incinerators are only the current greenhouse gas emission, but if supply hydrogen or converted through generation of EfW technologies. Second- captured and re-used (see chapter 4), the Fischer-Tropsch process into generation technologies can be more can result in negative CO2 emissions. chemical feedstocks or transport fuels. circular and potentially far lower-emitting (chapter 5). AD, for example, produces Pyrolysis processes organic and Both pyrolysis and gasification both biomethane (energy) and digestate plastic wastes by heating them to consume a portion of the waste to for use as fertiliser (circular product), around 500°C in the absence of oxygen. generate the heat needed to process and its CO2 emissions can be negative This decomposes the materials without the rest. in some circumstances. Pyrolysis and burning them, producing oil, which can gasification plants can reduce plastics, be used as a chemical feedstock or For more detail on these technologies, wood and other organic matter to oil or transport fuel, gas and ‘char’, a carbon- see chapter 4. gas, which can then be used to make rich dust. If the wastes processed are chemical feedstocks, fuels or electricity. In other words, these EfW plants can work equally well as energy or recycling technologies. All three produce useful Ultimately, there will always be residual We believe these three stages – waste waste heat, and are smaller than waste: however well separated, waste heat, second-generation and-third incinerators, so can be more easily streams will always suffer contamination; generation technologies – provide a integrated into district heating. AD is well materials like paper and plastic can be roadmap to a waste processing system established but pyrolysis and gasification recycled only a handful of times before that is both resource-efficient and are earlier stage technologies that need they degrade too much for further use. zero-carbon by 2050. That 30-year further R&D and VC support. The challenge is to plot a transition from journey coincides with the lifespan of the current situation to one in which the last few large incinerators that will The third generation of technologies, EfW capacity is held to the minimum ever be built in Britain. some of which have already been proved necessary, and where it is provided by

(chapter 5), can absorb the CO2 and efficient, circular technologies that waste outputs of EfW plants to make re-use or sequester any residual CO2. building products and fertiliser, and some also produce significant usable heat. In

Europe, EfW CO2 is already being used to displace CO2 from fossil fuels in horticulture.35 3. WASTE DISPOSAL 2020 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 23

In 2016, the last year for which complete 36 figures are available, the UK produced FIGURE 8: UK WASTE ARISINGS BREAKDOWN 2016. SOURCE: DEFRA. 223 million tonnes of waste. By far the biggest fraction (Figure 8) comes from Construction, Demolition and Excavation (CD&E), followed by Commercial and Industrial (C&I) and Household. Because Key CD&E already achieves more than 90% recycling and recovery rate (Table 2), this CD&E 61% report – like the debate more generally – focuses on Household and C&I. C&I 19%

The waste produced by households Households 12% seems to have peaked in 2004 at just under 30 million tonnes, and fell to around Other 8% 25 million tonnes in 2012, but has now started to rise again to 27.3 million tonnes in 2016, which partly reflects the rise and rise of online shopping. The most recent UK-wide figures for C&I waste show rising from around 42 million tonnes in 2010 to just over 44 million tonnes in 2012 and back down to 42 million tonnes in 2014.

TABLE 2: UK WASTE ARISINGS, RECYCLING AND RECOVERY 2016. SOURCES: ALL FIGURES ARE FROM DEFRA37 EXCEPT THE ESTIMATES (E), WHICH ARE BASED ON WRAP’S ESTIMATE OF COMMERCIAL RECYCLING RATE OF 35%.38 THERE IS A HIGH DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY IN THIS FIGURE.

WASTE ARISINGS RECYCLED, RECOVERED % RECYCLED, RESIDUAL WASTE UK, 2016 (M TONNES) (M TONNES) RECOVERED (M TONNES) Household 27.3 12.3 45.2% 15 Commercial and 41.1 Out of scope Industrial Of which commercial 27.5 9.6(e) 35%(e) 17.9%(e) Of which industrial 13.6 Construction, Demolition and 136.2 Out of scope Excavation (includes dredging) Of which non- 66.2 60.2 91% 6 hazardous Other 17.7 Out of scope Total 222.9 104 48.5% 118.9 24 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

The main ways of dealing with waste FIGURE 9: LOCAL AUTHORITY COLLECTED WASTE MANAGEMENT 2001–2017. are landfill, recycling, composting, EfW SOURCE: DEFRA.39 and exports. Over the past decade, the Landfill Tax has driven a sharp fall in waste 30,000 4.0 going to landfill and a boom in EfW – as 3.5 25,000 shown in Figure 9. 3.0

20,000 Household recycling has risen sharply 2.5

from 11% in 2001 but more recently 15,000 2.0

appears to have hit a plateau at around £ billion 1.5 45%.40 Household recycling in the UK Thousand tonnes 10,000 looks set to miss the 2020 target of 50%, 1.0 5,000 as it does in all constituent countries 0.5 except Wales (Figure 10). While recycling 0 0.0 rates have risen, more than 7 million

tonnes of biodegradable waste is still 2001/022002/032003/042004/052005/062006/072007/082008/092009/102010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17 sent to landfill.41 Key

Landfill Recycled/composted Cost of LA waste management The tonnage of residual waste – that left inc landfill tax Incineration with Energy Waste Other Cost of LA waste management over after recycling – going to incinerators exc landfill tax has risen sharply, from 3.3 million tonnes in 2006 to 11.5 million tonnes in 2018. In that year, Britain had 47 incinerators in operation or being commissioned with a FIGURE 10: HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING. SOURCE: DEFRA.42 total capacity of 11.5 million tonnes. A further 15 plants with a total capacity of Recycling as % of arisings just under 3.4 million tonnes per year are 43 under construction. 60.0%

In 2018, UK incinerators produced almost 50.0% 2.3 million tonnes of bottom ash (19.9% of the waste processed), almost all of 40.0% which was scoured for recoverable metals 30.0% and then recycled as aggregates for road

building. They also produced around 20.0% 378,000 tonnes of air pollution control

residues (APCr). In 2017, around 20% 10.0% of the APCr was recycled.44 All incinerator 0.0% CO2 is dumped to the atmosphere. 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

The amount of biomass going to landfill, Key and the recent inertia in household England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales UK recycling rates, are compounded if not caused by the waste collection services of around 350 local authorities in England. Scarcely 40% of England’s household waste is segregated at source overall. Only half of the local authorities In packaging waste, which is covered as recyclables, much lower than in the in England provide separate collection for by the Producer Responsibility scheme best performing European countries.45 food waste. Only in the unitary authorities (see overleaf), recycling rates for of larger metropolitan areas are the materials that are easier to recycle and One major problem is that in two-tier economics of collection and disposal valuable to industry are already relatively authorities, waste is collected by district properly integrated and balanced. high: glass (67%), metal (68%) and councils and disposed of by the county paper (82%), as shown in Table 3. But council. Collecting recycling in a single After ten years of austerity, councils’ plastics (45%), which has repeatedly bin is cheaper for the district council but capacity to improve collection is severely fallen short of its targets, and wood means the disposing authority must constrained. In its waste and resources (30%) represent major opportunities separate the glass, tins, plastic and paper strategy, the government has promised for improvement. in a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF), separate collections will be funded.46 which results in cross-contamination and This cannot come soon enough. makes the process more expensive Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 25

TABLE 3: UK PACKAGING WASTE RECYCLING RATES 2015 AND 2016. SOURCE: DEFRA.47 2015 2016 (PROVISIONAL) TOTAL PACKAGING TOTAL RECOVERED/ RECOVERY/ TOTAL PACKAGING TOTAL RECOVERED/ RECOVERY/ 2013–14 EU WASTE ARISING RECYCLED RECYCLING WASTE ARISING RECYCLED RECYCLING TARGET % (thousand tonnes) (thousand tonnes) RATE % (thousand tonnes) (thousand tonnes) RATE % Aluminium 177 76 42.9 177 90 50.8 n/a Steel 559 364 65.1 559 416 74.4 n/a Total metal 736 440 59.8 736 506 68.7 50.0 Paper 4,749 3,667 77.2 4,749 3,892 81.9 60.0 Glass 2,399 1,577 65.7 2,399 1,609 67.1 60.0 Plastic 2,260 891 39.4 2,260 1,015 44.9 22.5 Wood 1,310 375 28.6 1,310 405 30.9 15.0 Other 23 23 0 0.0 n/a Total recycling 11,476 6,950 60.6 11,476 7,427 64.7 55.0 Energy from waste 476 4.1 767 6.7 n/a Total 11,476 7,427 64.7 11,476 8,194 71.4 60.0

Britain also relies heavily on exports of Producer Responsibility scheme in 2015, issued the first ban. This shifted both ‘recyclates’ – recyclable material that inadvertently rewards exports more highly the exports to countries like Malaysia, has been sorted into separate streams than UK recycling. The plastics industry Indonesia, Vietnam and others, which then such as plastics or paper – and residual has called on the government to reform imposed their own restrictions. There has or ‘black bag’ waste that would normally the scheme (see Box 3: Economics of been little if any effect on the level of UK end up in an incinerator. the waste business).49 exports, and the biggest importer of UK plastics waste is now Turkey (see Figure The export of plastics for recycling In 2018, Asian countries began to restrict 12 on page 26). As export markets has grown strongly this century, and until imports of foreign plastics and other tighten, however, it should drive up recently most was sent to Asian countries. waste streams. China, which had taken the price of recycling in the UK and Figure 11 shows the growth of exports two-thirds of UK plastics waste exports incentivise investment in new capacity. of plastic packaging, which continue to outstrip the rise in UK recycling: in 2018, Britain recycled 384,000 tonnes of plastic packaging waste and exported around FIGURE 11: PLASTIC PACKAGING: UK RECYCLING AND EXPORTS. 650,000 tonnes.48 Packaging represents SOURCE: WRAP/ENVIRONMENT AGENCY.50 about half the total plastics ‘placed on the market’ (2.4 million tonnes of a total 4.9 800 100% million tonnes in 2017).

600 75% Exports predominate partly because Britain still has too little recycling capacity – estimated at 450,000 tonnes in 2018. 400 50% Since early 2019, the industry has announced plans to build a further Thousand tonnes 200 25% 250,000 tonnes of capacity, but this is too little to absorb current exports. Exports may also persist because the 0 0% 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Key

UK Export Recycling rate 26 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

Britain also exports residual waste FIGURE 12: UK RECOVERED PLASTIC EXPORT DESTINATIONS (JAN–JUN 2019). as ‘refuse-derived fuel’ (RDF), which SOURCE: WRAP/HMRC.51 is black bag waste that has been compressed and wrapped in (of course) plastic for incineration in EU countries. Key This requires an export licence, and it is Belgium 3.1% Hong Kong 9.1% illegal to export waste, as opposed to recyclates, further afield. France 4.5% Poland 7.2% Germany 5.2% Malaysia 5.6% Exports of RDF from England and Wales Netherlands 9.0& Spain 5.4% ballooned from just 9,000 tonnes in 2010 Turkey 26.3% Indonesia 6.8% to 3.6 million tonnes in 2017, or around 10% of our residual waste (Figure 13). Other 17.7% But exports appear to have peaked and fell to 2.7 million tonnes in 2019.52 The decline looks set to continue since the Netherlands, the biggest importer of British RDF, has just announced an RDF import tax of €32 per tonne. The second FIGURE 13: UK RESIDUAL WASTE MARKET BY TREATMENT METHOD. largest importer, Sweden, has announced SOURCE: TOLVIK CONSULTING.55 an import duty starting at £6 per tonne, 53 but rising each year. These moves are 100% expected to raise the cost of incineration in the UK. Although exports are shrinking, 90% UK RDF exporters fear that their trade 80% could be disrupted in the event of a 70% no-deal Brexit.54 The same could also be true for much of our plastic packaging 60% waste exports (Figure 11). These exports 50% have – ironically – helped to lower fuel 40% costs for energy and cement producers in mainland Europe. 30% 20%

10%

0%

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 (E) 2019 (P)

Key

Landfill EfW RDF Exports Other Treatments Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 27

Box 3: The economics recyclates. AD plants, which could claim system drove investment of more than of the waste business the Renewable Heat Incentive, also £130 million in 2018.59 sprouted. Britain’s waste sector has been The PRN/PERN system has two transformed over the past decade by Altogether the tax incentivised problems, however. First, although it two pieces of legislation: the Landfill investment of around £1,212 billion in drives money towards recyclers, it Tax and the Producer Responsibility new incinerators, with £55 billion in the provides no funding for local authorities Regulations. pipeline58, and the tonnage of waste to introduce separate collections for going to landfill has plunged. various the recyclates, and therefore The landfill tax was introduced in 1997 improve the quality of recycling streams. at £7 per tonne and rose gently but Investment in recycling capacity has ineffectually for 13 years56. Then in also been driven by the Producer Second, the plastics industry complains 2010, the government announced an Responsibility Obligations (Packaging that the system rewards exporters more annual escalator of £8 per tonne, rising Waste) Regulations 2007, Britain’s highly than domestic recyclers, because to a minimum level of £80 per tonne translation of the EU Packaging and PRNs are issued for plastics that have between 2016 and 2020. The rate Waste Directive. These oblige been washed and shredded, whereas from April 2020 is £94.15 per tonne.57 manufacturers and retailers to meet PERNs are issued on plastics that have progressively tighter annual recycling not been. Because the Notes are issued The landfill tax, collected by the landfill targets for packaging materials. for each tonne of waste, exporters are operator on top of its own ‘gate fees’ effectively rewarded for exporting dirt (commercial charges) and passed to To prove their compliance, companies and other contaminants – although the government, now created a major must buy Packaging Recovery Notes developing countries are now beginning incentive to find alternative means of (PRN), or Packaging Export Recovery to reject these exports (see page 25). disposal, and made it economic for Notes (PERN), for each tonne they companies to invest in new plants to place on the market. The Notes are Although these two laws have changed provide them. issued by recyclers, such as glass or the waste industry dramatically over the paper manufacturers, for each tonne past decade, household recycling rates A Material Recycling Facility (MRF), they recycle, or by exporters for each are stuck at around 45%, and our for example, could now turn a profit tonne they export for recycling abroad. resource economy is still hopelessly by charging a lower gate fee than the The system, therefore, directs money inefficient at 10% (see page 26). The landfill tax and selling separated streams from waste producers to recyclers, government’s upcoming reforms will of glass, plastics and paper on to helping them to invest in more capacity. need to be truly radical to move the recyclers. Incinerators that cost If recycling targets are missed, the price dial on either number. hundreds of millions of pounds to build of the Notes, which are tradable, should were now economic and operated on rise and encourage further investment in broadly the same business model – recycling capacity. Across aluminium, but sold electricity rather than paper, glass, plastic and steel, the PRN 28 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

Recycling faces particular problems for only 20%64 – and tyres, along with textiles, n The waste and resources strategy for some specialist waste streams such as furniture, carpets. The government has England published in 201865, in which waste electrical and electronic equipment said it will introduce extended producer the government committed to: (WEEE, or e-waste). According to the responsibility (EPR) schemes for these waste company Suez, Britain sends more products, forcing manufacturers and than a million items of e-waste to landfill retailers to cover the full costs of recycling, n Strengthen producer responsibility or incineration every week – 60 million a recovery and disposal (see next section). to the full costs of disposal year.60 This represents a huge waste of These EPR schemes will clearly need to including collection gold, silver, cobalt, platinum, titanium be more effective than the WEEE Fund n Fund local authorities to collect and rare earth metals. scheme has been so far, and that probably separate recycling streams rather means the sticks will need to be bigger. than co-mingled in a single bin: E-waste is one of four waste streams EEE manufacturers paid in just £3.5 million ‘we must, and will, ensure that – along with packaging, vehicles and to the WEEE Fund in 2018, which is tiny local authorities are resourced to batteries – covered by producer compared to the £ billions their products meet new net costs arising from responsibility schemes in the UK. would have generated in revenue. the policies in this Strategy’ Manufacturers of electrical and electronic n Standardise a core set of materials equipment (EEE) have to pay into a WEEE Government policy for councils to collect Fund that finances centralised collection Waste policy is devolved to Scotland, n Legislate for weekly separate food points, mostly at council depots.61 Wales and Northern Ireland, but the waste collections for all by 2023 government’s main policies for England n Introduce a plastics tax Yet Britain keeps missing its EU e-waste include: n Consider introducing an recycling targets. In 2018, Britain should incineration tax have recycled 45%, or 537,000 tonnes, n The Landfill Tax, introduced in 1997. n Consider extending the existing but managed only 493,000 tonnes. When This is a tax on each tonne of waste 2030 ban on food waste going the data is in, it looks likely the target will sent to landfill, which rises each year to landfill to all biodegradable be missed yet again in 2019.62 and currently stands at £94 (April material by the same date 2020). Over the past decade, it has n Develop a National Materials The problem is partly that we buy and driven waste from landfill to EfW Datahub later discard an ever-growing stream of (see above). n Roll out resource efficiency gadgets. The average Briton produces n The Packaging Waste/Producer clusters for small businesses almost 25kg of e-waste each year, Responsibility Regulations of 2007, (the government’s proposal, not compared to less than 18kg for the which introduced a trading scheme to be confused with our Resource average EU citizen. But it is also because intended to raise the proportion of Recovery Clusters, see page 48) councils do not collect e-waste separately, packaging recycled. Under the scheme from 2020 and small items are easy to throw into the producers of raw materials, general rubbish. The government accepts manufacturers and retailers must buy the system is not performing well enough Packaging Recovery Notes (PRN), or The government is due to issue a second and has announced that from 2021 big Packaging Export Recovery Notes consultation this year on its favoured retailers will no longer be allowed to (PERN), equal to a rising percentage proposals. contribute to the WEEE Fund and will have of the packaging they produce. See to accept end-of-life returns in store.63 Box 3 for more detail. The government n The Industrial and Clean Growth is consulting on reforms to the scheme Strategies, which commit Britain to There are similar difficulties with bulky and has promised councils will be doubling resource productivity and items such as mattresses – of which we funded to collect recyclates in separate eliminating ‘avoidable’ waste by 2050. discarded 7 million in 2017 but recycled streams. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 29

The government plans to introduce EPR Work on the UK National Materials n Heat Network Investment Project to five new areas including textiles; bulky Datahub is at an early stage, but such a (HNIP), under which the government waste, including mattresses, furniture and system has already been introduced in has committed £320 million to ‘gap carpets; some materials in construction Taiwan. There it is available to companies fund’ heat network projects that would and demolition; vehicle tyres; and fishing to link up buyers and sellers of glass, not otherwise be economic. The gear. The waste and resource strategy plastic, metals, fibre and biomass, so they scheme was announced in 2016 and commits to make producers bear the ‘full can replace virgin materials with recycled has supported 13 projects with a total net cost of managing their products at the wastes of a defined specification. of £41 million so far, reducing both end of their life’, and to use variable fees CO2 emissions and energy bills. to encourage manufacturers to make Defra estimates that businesses could The government estimates the full products that are easier to reuse, repair or save £3 billion a year through resource programme will lever in private recycle, and to penalise those that do not. efficiency measures that cost little or investment worth £2 billion.67 So far, nothing to implement66, and has begun to however, only 14% of applications The government is considering a plastics pilot resource efficiency clusters through have concerned EfW heat.68 EfW tax because recycled plastics can be LEPs to promote this. The clusters offer suffers specific barriers on top of those more expensive than new ones. The tax free resource efficiency audits and faced by heat networks. In the March would be imposed on all packaging financial support for subsequent 2020 budget, the government provided containing less than 30% recycled plastic, investments. We support this idea but a further £270 million in funding to to encourage manufacturers to produce believe that resource efficiency could be encourage new and existing heat more sustainable packaging and, in turn, greatly accelerated by creating physical networks to switch to low-carbon heat create greater demand for recycled clusters of waste and recycling sources.69 Giving evidence, one EfW material. We welcome this idea and infrastructure, as we propose with our heat network developer described believe it could be extended to a much Resource Recovery Clusters (see this scheme as a ‘good start’. wider range of materials. Recommendations). The Industrial Cluster Decarbonisation The idea of a National Materials Heat policy is also relevant: Mission (£170 million) which is being Datahub is intended to provide n Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), used by the Black Country LEP to ‘comprehensive data on the availability which subsidises investment in demonstrate many of the of raw and secondary materials, including renewable heat technologies, but recommendations in this report. In chemicals, across the economy to which is due to close in March 2021. particular supporting a ‘Repowering the industry and the public sector, and by This uncertainty about future Black Country’ programme to plan and modelling scenarios around material government support for renewable heat develop a portfolio of mini-resource availability’. We strongly support this idea, has depressed investment in anaerobic recovery clusters and net zero energy and we urge the government to ensure digestion and other technologies. The hubs across four local authorities, the Datahub gathers data and analyses government should end this uncertainty using planning powers and business material and waste flows not only at a quickly by renewing or replacing the engagement programmes to encourage national level, but down to the regional RHI. The government introduced a Low the development of circular economy and local levels too. This would make it Carbon Heat Support Scheme in its eco-systems around each hub.70 extremely useful for local and regional March 2020 budget to support the authorities as they plan waste installation of heat pumps and biomass In transport policy, the Renewable infrastructure. The Datahub would also boilers, although its details are not yet Transport Fuels Obligation introduced in be a central resource for our proposed clear. On the face of it, this supports 2008 obliges suppliers of road transport Centre for the Circular Economy (see consumers of renewable heat but fuels to incorporate a steadily rising Recommendations). not producers, such as AD, pyrolysis fraction of renewable fuel. The rate stands or gasification plants. In other words, at 9.75% in 2020 and will rise to 12.4% the uncertainty over RHI remains, and by 2032. must be resolved. 30 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

4. WASTED OPPORTUNITIES THE HEAT IMPERATIVE Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 31

In 2018, 47 incinerators generated just plants do not. In other words, operating year, as rising renewable capacity pushes over 6,000 GWh of electricity, or 1.9% as a combined heat and power plant UK grid carbon intensity ever lower. of the UK total.71 The industry likes to call (CHP) roughly halves carbon intensity EfW electricity ‘renewable’, but this is of processing each tonne of waste. Indeed, there is a strong argument for misleading. Its emissions may be lower n The Tolvik Consultancy produces using incinerators, where physically than those of landfill, which produces industry-wide figures for the electricity possible, to produce only heat and no methane, but they are also among the and heat produced by UK incinerators, electricity. Heat loss from well-insulated highest on the grid. Once coal phase-out and the amount of waste processed, pipes is likely to be far less than that from is completed in 202472, EfW will be the which give an industry average a steam turbine, meaning overall energy most carbon-intensive form of baseload waste-to-energy production ratio of production can be far higher and generation. Incinerator CO2 emissions 1.56 tonnes per MWh (implied in emissions much lower. This is how many are high because they are generated Figure 14 below.)74 plants operate in Scandinavia, which is by inefficient steam turbines; the fuel why Sweden extracts almost six times contains a lot of plastic (made of oil); Multiplying the Eunomia and Tolvik figures more energy per tonne of waste than the and because very few of the incinerators together shows that the average UK UK (Figure 14 below). The Amager Bakke 75 – eight of the 47 in 2018 – make any incinerator emits 0.44tCO2/MWh. That’s plant emits just 0.086tCO23/MWh when use of their waste heat. almost four times higher than the most producing heat only, one-fifth of the efficient European plants. The Amager average for UK incinerators. In Denmark, We have found no authoritative figures Bakke plant in Copenhagen emits just EfW supplies 25% of the district heating 76 for the carbon intensity of incinerator- under 0.120tCO2/MW, when producing and 5% of the electricity. generated electricity and heat in the UK. both electricity and heat (see case study But we have found enough credible data on page 32). to calculate the emissions ourselves: n In a report for the Scottish government, UK incinerator emissions of 0.44tCO2/ the Eunomia consultancy provides MWh are more than double the 2018 UK

estimates for carbon dioxide emissions grid average of 0.208tCO2/MWh and a per tonne of waste for UK and quarter higher than combined cycle European ‘thermal treatment’ plants.73 natural gas plant emissions of

UK plants emit 0.28tCO2e per tonne 0.349 tCO2/MWh. Since we already of waste while those in Denmark, have low-cost ways to produce low- Netherlands and Sweden emit carbon electricity (UK offshore wind now

0.13tCO2e. The difference is accounted undercuts natural gas), but few options for by the fact that European plants for low-cost, low-carbon heat, it makes typically use their waste heat to supply no sense to run incinerators for electricity district heating whereas most UK only. This argument strengthens every

FIGURE 14: EFW ENERGY PER TONNE OF WASTE BY COUNTRY. SOURCE: TOLVIK CONSULTING

3.5 ELECTRICITY HEAT TOTAL 3.0 COUNTRY 2.5 (MWh/t) (MWh/t) (MWh/t)

2.0 Sweden 0.36 2.62 2.98

1.5 Denmark 0.40 2.19 2.59 MWH/t input

1.0 Netherlands 0.48 0.81 1.30 0.5 Germany 0.34 0.86 1.20 0.0 Sweden Denmark Netherlands Germany Italy Sweden Italy 0.73 0.33 1/07

Key UK 0.54 0.10 0.64 Power Heat 32 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Amager efficient, and this measure adds another and must compensate the waste Bakke, Copenhagen 20% on top. The plant also scavenges suppliers for any resulting loss in waste heat from ancillary equipment like electricity production. The Amager Bakke incinerator in air compressors to feed the heat Copenhagen is an extraordinary example networks. All EfW and districting heating in of what can be achieved with a modern Denmark is not-for-profit, and Amager incinerator. Commissioned in 2018, it ARC (Amager Resource Centre), Bakke is owned by five municipalities. burns around 540,000 tonnes of waste which runs the plant, can extract heat Any heat network that wants to expand per year – representing over half a million at five different points along the turbine, can secure low-cost, government-backed people and almost 50,000 businesses meaning it can operate in several modes loans. ARC is currently developing a

– to supply two district heating networks with a different balance between business plan to capture its CO2 and and generate electricity for the grid. electricity and heat output. In normal convert it into transport fuels. CHP mode it produces around 190MW The plant has an energy efficiency of heat and 50MW electricity, and emits The plant is not only energy-efficient

107% – meaning it produces more just 0.119tCO2/MWh – scarcely a but also architecturally striking. Its long, energy than contained in its fuel. This quarter of the emissions of the average slanting roof doubles as a ski slope and apparent magic-trick was largely UK incinerator. In heat-only mode it running track, and its sides provide the

achieved by installing heat pumps in the emits still less – just 0.086tCO2/MWh. world’s tallest climbing wall. chimney to condense the flue gases and The plant is controlled by the seasonal extract the maximum heat. The average requirements of the heat networks; they incinerator in Denmark is around 85% tell the ARC how much heat they need,

FIGURE 15: AMAGER BAKKE INCINERATOR IN COPHENHAGEN. SOURCE: ARC Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 33

Since only 2% of British buildings are The government’s Heat Network Delivery and can generate far more heat than connected to a district heating network77, Unit (HNDU) and £320 million Heat needed by a start-up heat network, it is not hard to see where the opportunity Network Investment Project (HNIP) are whose initial demand is too small lies. But if we want to reach Scandinavian starting to drive the development of heat to interest the incinerator operator levels of heat from EfW, we perhaps networks. But take-up has been slower commercially. wouldn’t start from here. Compared to than expected and most applications so n Mismatch of contract and plant Sweden and Denmark, where combined far have relied on gas-fired CHP (51%) or end-dates: if the heat network heat and power (CHP) and district heat pumps (29%), and only 14% EfW.78 operator’s contract is due to end heating are long-established, much of it within a few years, or the incinerator sourced from incinerators, the UK suffers Evidence presented to the commission in operator’s waste contract with the several disadvantages. Now Britain must hearings and interviews suggests that local authority, or the incinerator is overcome not only the barriers to heat network developers in the UK face a due to close, it can be difficult to agree developing heat networks, but also series of extra barriers to using EfW heat: a deal without some kind of external specific barriers to exploiting the heat n Incinerators were typically built near guarantee of continuing supply and/or of EfW in those networks. landfill sites, and, therefore, remote demand. Nobody provides this at the from sources of heat demand. moment. Historically, Britain had no great incentive Electricity generation was the easier n Local authorities, after ten years of to develop CHP district heating networks way to export some energy. austerity, mostly lack capacity to broker because of its extensive gas network and n Incinerator operators are, by contract and manage such arrangements. natural gas supplies from the North Sea. or business model, tied into electricity Now that emissions reduction and generation; they see heat as outside These and other commercial difficulties resource efficiency are higher priorities, their core business. can prevent the use of waste heat from heat from natural gas is arguably too n There is widespread public opposition EfW even where sources of supply and cheap. to incinerators. Operators know this, demand are within touching distance. For and do not want to attract further example, Birmingham has built Britain’s Retrofitting district heat – digging up attention. biggest heat network over the past 20 the streets – is expensive, and raises the n The low price of gas and heat years, and the city’s incinerator at Tyseley question of who funds the infrastructure, compared to electricity, which makes is close by, yet still its waste heat goes and how. Local authorities, which in theory it hard for heat network developers to untapped (see case study on page 34). have the power to compel housebuilders get incinerator operators interested. As a result of these kinds of issues, to integrate district heat in new projects n Incinerator operators wrongly believe Britain has fewer than ten district heating through Section 106 planning notices, in they will have to guarantee 100% schemes powered by EfW. In the March practice struggle to impose their will on security of supply, when in fact all 2020 budget, the government increased this powerful lobby. Local authorities’ district heating networks have back-up funding by £270 million to ‘to enable planning powers clearly need to be built in – it’s just a question of who new and existing heat networks to adopt reinforced. supplies it. low-carbon heat sources’.79 It is not yet n Mismatch of volumes of supply and clear to what extent this will solve the demand: incinerators tend to be large barriers to uptake of heat from EfW. 34 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Birmingham contract ends in 2032, meaning that any As luck would have it, there is one: heat network connections made now have to make a Birmingham’s 350,000-tonne, 25MW return in 12 years rather than the original waste incinerator at Tyseley, is less than Since 2007, Birmingham has built the 25, which makes them either loss- five miles from the new developments country’s largest heat network with three making or uncompetitive. on the east of the city. interlinked schemes at Broad Street, Aston University and the Children’s As a result, unless another body such The Veolia operated plant was built in Hospital. Each year, the Birmingham as the city council can provide an 1996 and is nearing the end of its District Energy Scheme’s gas-fired CHP external guarantee that the energy will original contract, which the council plants supply 56GWh heat, 51GWh of keep being provided after the end of recently extended until 2024. The electricity and 8GWh of chilled water, Engie’s contract, and thus extending the council has put out to tender the plant’s 80 saving more than 15,000tCO2. payback period, the scheme will take on operation for a further 15 years and the no new customers. But as things stand, plant could well be replaced in four The scheme, whose assets are owned the city council has neither the years’ time. and operated by Engie, has been highly resources nor the in-house expertise successful so far, and, given the massive to make such commitments. This uncertainty complicates any redevelopment going on in Birmingham, decision about whether to integrate its has the potential to more than double The same factors also affect greenhouse heat into the district energy scheme. in size. For example, three impending gas reductions. Digging up streets and But this is a decision the city council developments on the east side of the running gas-fired CHP plants emits will have to confront soon. If the council city – HS2, Smithfield and Rea Valley carbon, so it takes some years for the decides to replace the plant, it will need – will need at least 75GWh of heat. district energy scheme’s greater to tender almost immediately. In this But now the scheme faces a series of efficiency to pay back these emissions compressed timeframe, the replacement challenges that could stop any further before it starts to make savings. Again, is very likely to be another incinerator in expansion. that means that after a certain point, the same location. A modern plant at even if the scheme could attract more Tyseley, like Amager Bakke in One is simply that time is running out customers, in climate terms it would be Copenhagen (see case study on the on Engie’s 25-year contract, signed in counterproductive, unless from a heat previous page), could provide huge 2007. Under its business model, Engie source with lower carbon intensity than amounts of heat to the city’s heat charges customers 10% less for energy gas CHP. network and future developments. than would a conventional supplier, funded by the system’s higher efficiency, If the scheme is to expand, therefore, but this means the investment needed to it not only needs to solve the contract connect each new customer takes a termination issue, but also find a big long time to pay off. Engie’s 25-year new source of low-carbon heat. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 35

CASE STUDY: Nottingham Originally managed by British Coal, the the land lasts until 2070, however, which heat network network switched heat sources after puts it in a powerful position during the the Eastcroft incinerator was built in the contract negotiations. The council does Nottingham’s district heating network 1970s. Eastcroft provides steam to a have one other site, Blenheim Allotments, was founded in the 1960s and now heat station managed by Enviroenergy, that could host an alternative supplier, serves 5,000 houses and 100 which is wholly owned by Nottingham but it seems most likely that it will renew commercial buildings. With 85km of City Council. The incinerator has been with FCC. pipework, it is one of the largest in the fully refurbished in recent years but the

country and saves 27,000tCO2 per heat station now needs to be replaced. year.81 Eastcroft incinerator plant is owned and operated by FCC, whose contract runs out in 2030. The company’s lease on

The government does already support networks could provide 10% of Britain’s of electricity for the grid and supplies the development of heat networks through heat by 2030, representing 33TWh to up to 73MW of high-grade heat to the its Heat Network Investment Programme 54TWh under various scenarios. Based neighbouring industrial estate, is an (HNIP) with funding of £320 million on previous HNIP deals and some excellent example. Another is the AD plant available until 2022. But only 14% of assumed cost reduction towards built in Scunthorpe to process local farm applications so far have involved Scandinavian levels, the IPPR calculates waste and provide heat to the paper incinerator waste heat, perhaps reflecting this would require investment of between manufacturer CorrBoard (see case the specific barriers listed above. It also £13 billion and £22 billion, and that this study, chapter 5). suggests HNDU may need to adjust could be catalysed by HNIP funding of the conditions attached to future HNIP between £1.8 billion and £3 billion.82 For this reason, we believe the best way rounds. In evidence to the Commission, to start to exploit EfW waste heat is to one district heat network developer We believe the government should develop commercial clusters on post- described the HNIP programme as a commit to raise HNIP funding to the level industrial sites of which the Midlands has ‘good start’. In its March 2020 budget, needed to achieve the CCC target – plenty. These would combine a spread of the government increased funding by raising it to £3 billion if necessary. EfW technologies, along with recycling £270 million, but we believe it should facilities and other businesses that can go much further; this policy needs In the UK context, it may be easier to consume their cheap electricity, heat, rocket boosters. exploit EfW waste heat for industrial fuels, CO2 and material outputs – so rather than domestic purposes – at least greatly reducing carbon intensity and The IPPR has argued that the government initially. If EfW plants were co-located on improving circularity (for detail, see needs to extend the HNIP beyond its a single site with industrial consumers of chapter 6). The government should current closure date of 2022 and increase heat and cold, the infrastructure would be extend its HNIP programme to these its funding between six and tenfold. The cheaper and the energy demand constant new industrial clusters. think tank’s starting point is that the year-round, so the waste heat might be Committee on Climate Change (CCC) more fully exploited. The Suez incinerator estimates that cost-effective heat at Wilton, which both generates 49MW 36 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

5. ELECTRONS TO MOLECULES:

CIRCULAR EFW AND RECYCLED CO2 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 37

Second-generation upgraded to biomethane and injected into by rules on Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, technologies the gas grid; or converted into transport which apply across most of England and fuel. The process also gives off useful which limit the amounts of nitrate fertiliser Even after the most rigorous separation waste heat. that can be applied and at which times of and recycling of waste streams, and year. It’s also true that most AD plants after exploiting all the waste heat from The greenhouse gas emissions savings currently pay to have their digestate taken incinerators, incinerating waste to from AD are large because it reduces away, because, being in liquid form, it generate electricity does not make best methane emissions to the atmosphere is more expensive to spread than the use of valuable material. There are cleaner from landfill; generates electricity or fuels; synthetic fertilisers to which farmers and cheaper ways to generate electricity converts the methane into much less are more accustomed.

– offshore wind now undercuts gas-fired damaging CO2; displaces carbon- power – and grid average carbon intensity intensive fossil fertiliser; and produces There are, however, various technologies improves every year. So waste could be valuable waste heat. At scale, the that upgrade digestate by, for example, better used to decarbonise ‘hard to reach’ methane it produces can be injected into dewatering, mixing with compost to sectors by producing transport fuels and the gas grid. AD is also properly circular increase the organic content and chemical feedstocks. Even the industry in that it turns agricultural and food waste stripping out excess nitrates. At least accepts it must transition from generating into digestate that restores nutrients to two companies, SGTech84 and CCm electrons to producing molecules. It could the land. (see Third-generation technologies, on be argued that some of the emerging EfW page 43), have proved technologies technologies are as much about recycling According to the Anaerobic Digestion that upgrade digestate into precisely as energy. and Bioresources Association (ADBA), formulated solid fertilisers. Sewage sludge replacing one tonne of artificial fertiliser can also be converted into transport fuels Anaerobic digestion (AD) with digestate saves roughly one tonne through pyrolysis (see case study, page One technology that is already of oil, 108,000 litres of water, and seven 44). established, far lower-emitting, and tonnes of CO2. In total, almost 4 million far more circular than incinerators, is tonnes of food waste is processed The number of AD plants in Britain has anaerobic digestion. AD takes organic through AD, generating approximately risen sharply this century, driven largely matter and digests it to produce biogas 3 million tonnes of digestate, which by agriculture and the water sector 83 (methane and carbon dioxide) and a saves 100,000 tonnes of CO2 e. (Figure 16). There are now just over nutrient-rich digestate that displaces 670 AD plants, of which 108 inject slurry and fossil fertiliser. The biogas can There are problems with AD digestate, biomethane into the national grid, as at be burned directly to generate electricity; however. Like slurry, digestate is governed the Minworth sewage plant.85 Growth was driven by government incentives, but has tailed off now that the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) has been scrapped and the Renewable FIGURE 16: UK AD PLANTS BY FEEDSTOCK. SOURCE: ADBA Heat Incentive (RHI) is due to end in March 2021. Actual cumulative number of plants by feedstock sector Yet AD is still hugely under-exploited 800 in the UK, where 90 million tonnes of 700 manure is still spread directly onto the land rather than processed through AD, 600 and 4 million tonnes of food waste still

500 ends up in landfill or incinerators.

400 In the March 2020 budget, the government announced a new support 300 Number of plants scheme for biomethane, paid for by a 200 ‘Green Gas Levy’, though it provided no details. We welcome the announcement, 100 but believe the government should also 0 remove the uncertainty around the future 1979 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 of the RHI by renewing or replacing it; create market mechanisms to stimulate Key demand for biomethane such as a ‘biogas Sewage Mixed agricultural/municipal/commercial Municipal/commercial waste obligation’ on gas suppliers, similar to the

Agricultural On-site industrial Other Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO); and support further R&D.

38 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Scunthorpe Farmers take the digestate to spread that provide the waste are now AD plant and cardboard on their fields. beginning to buy their packaging manufacturing from CorrBoard. CorrBoard’s off-cuts could also be processed through the digestor, but CorrBoard is owned by a consortium of Most of Britain’s AD plants are owned it makes more sense to recycle them nine companies, two of which invested by farmers or water companies, but separately; corrugated cardboard can £5.5 million to build the plant. The industry is also beginning to invest. be recycled up to nine times before investment is supported for 20 years In Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, ending up as low-grade tissue paper. by Renewable Obligation Certificates CorrBoard UK has become the world’s (ROCs) and the Renewable Heat first corrugated cardboard manufacturer The plant’s biogas engines generate Incentive (RHI). to build a digestor, allowing it to cut 800kW of electricity and the same again emissions and start a local circular in heat. CorrBoard consumes 400kW in economy in food waste and packaging. electricity, exporting the rest to the grid, and all of the heat. The company’s gas The CorrBoard AD plant, commissioned consumption has fallen 70%, and since

in 2019, has capacity to digest 25,000 the CO2 emissions from the remainder tonnes of mostly vegetable waste from are offset by the grid exports, the local food processors to generate manufacturing operation is now carbon 6.4GWh of electricity per year.86 neutral. As a result, the food processors

Pyrolysis and gasification Pyrolysis is important because it could to the number of times an initial quantity AD is well-suited to processing organic solve a major problem of plastics of plastics can be recycled. One major waste, but it cannot deal with plastics or recycling. Under conventional mechanical challenge of chemical recycling of plastic municipal solid waste (MSW, or ‘black recycling, plastics are separated into their waste is to ensure the oil produced is bag’). For this, the most promising different types (such as PET or HDPE) consistently high quality. technologies are pyrolysis and and each is melted down to produce new gasification. These produce either liquid pellets of the same material. The problem Several British companies are developing

fuels, in which case CO2 is released to is that every waste stream is bound to be chemical recycling through pyrolysis the atmosphere but fossil fuels are contaminated, and so plastics downcycle including Recycling Technologies, based

displaced (meaning CO2 may still be to a lower quality every time – for in Swindon (see case study opposite). Its

reduced overall), or feedstocks for instance, from food packaging, to car process emits less CO2 than incineration plastics and other chemicals, in which plastics, to materials for a park bench. and mechanical recycling, but is able to case the process is more circular and This is why plastics tend to recycle only deal with soft plastics and films that cannot keeps some carbon out of the three or four times before ending up in be recycled mechanically. The company atmosphere. an incinerator. plans to combine the two technologies on a single site to greatly increase the total Pyrolysis and gasification have had a By contrast, pyrolysis heats plastics to proportion of plastics recycled. torrid history of technical and corporate around 500°C in the absence of oxygen, failures, but the technical problems are which breaks down the various polymer Pyrolysis and gasification can also be now being overcome, and the remaining molecules, meaning a mixed collection used to process organic wastes such policy issues are more about supporting of plastics can be reduced to a ‘virgin’ as wood, sewage sludge and manure to venture capital (VC)-stage companies to feedstock oil, which can then be used to produce bio-oil and biochar. This, in turn, commercialise. Both types of plant are produce different types of plastics again. can be used to produce carbon-negative typically far smaller than incinerators and This chemical recycling solves the chemical feedstocks and transport fuels therefore easier to integrate with district problem of downcycling and is energy (see case studies opposite and overleaf). heating. With the right support they could self-sufficient. But the process consumes form the basis of local, low-carbon, a portion of the plastic to provide that circular economies. energy, so in principle there is still a limit Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 39

CASE STUDY: Chemical The company has run a 700 tonnes-per- new materials and a quarter (11% of the recycling of plastics year prototype at Swindon Borough total plastics) burned to provide heat for Council’s waste processing site for the process (see Figure 18 below). Chemical recycling is not new, and three years, and has secured funding The company claims its process emits

the term covers a range of different to install its first commercial unit, the less CO2 than incineration, and that technologies. But only now is it RT7000, at the Binn EcoPark in combining mechanical and chemical developing as a commercial means Scotland (see case study, page 54).88 recycling in this way would emit 21% of processing mixed plastic waste. The unit is factory-built, designed to be less than mechanical recycling and Recycling Technologies, originally a transported by lorry and intended to incineration.89 spin-out from the University of Warwick, co-locate with mechanical recycling. is one of several companies working on This would mean that all plastics could The RT7000 can process 7,000 tonnes new local-scale technologies.87 be collected in a single bin (Figure 17), of waste per year, about the amount of which could dramatically increase the residual mixed waste plastics produced The company has developed a ‘fluidised recycling rate. by a city of 300,000 people. The bed’ pyrolysis plant to recycle mixed company favours local-scale plants plastic waste – including soft items like The company carried out a study with because factory production cuts films, pouches, toothpaste tubes and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to engineering costs, and because local crisp packets – that cannot be recycled analyse the potential impact of this recycling will reduce rubbish truck using conventional mechanical recycling. technology. A conventional plastics journeys and emissions. The company The plastics are fed into a bubbling bed recycling facility can recycle only the intends to build a fleet of 12 plants at of sand-like material at around 450°C 52% of plastics amenable to mechanical first, to gain operational experience, and in the absence of oxygen, which causes recycling. Of the rest, the non-recyclable then move to mass production. By one the polymer chains to break and soft plastics, which make up 43% of the estimate, the addressable market in the produces a mixture of hydrocarbon total, are usually incinerated, and the US alone is worth $120 billion per gases. Most of the gases are then remaining 5%, mostly PVC, is sent to year.90 condensed to produce a feedstock for landfill. If the 43% were instead making new virgin quality, food-grade processed through an RT7000, plastics. three-quarters of it (or 32% of the total plastics) would be turned into

FIGURE 17: COMBINED MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL RECYCLING OF PLASTICS. SOURCE: RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES.91

LDPE PET HDPE PP PPLAXXL AX X llogo og o

Wash/Colour Sort/Granulate

LDPE film PET HDPE PP

3D 3D Pre-sort Mechanical sorting residual plastics

PVC

One bin plastic collection Small format plastic packaging

FIGURE 18: COMBINED MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL RECYCLING COULD RAISE RECYCLING RATE FROM 52% TO 84% OF PLASTICS RECEIVED. SOURCE: RECYCLING TECHNOLOGIES.92

18%

Other Chemical materials processing

14% 32% 52% 52% PRF a-PRF Mechanical Mechanical Chemical Plastic products recycling Plastic products recycling 43% recycling

5% 43% 5% 11% 48% 100% 34% 100%

Energy from Internal energy Virgin plastics Landfill waste Virgin plastics Landfill generation

Material flows – Polymer reprocessing facility (PRF) Material flows – Advanced polymer reprocessing facility (a-PRF) 40 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Biomass contaminants. In a second stage, the of bio-oil per hour. Now ToSynFuel pyrolysis for carbon- material is heated to around 700°C is building a pre-commercial plant at negative fuels and to produce more gas and improve its Hohenburg in Germany to process feedstock quality. This produces bio-oil, a seven tonnes per day or around hydrogen-rich synthetic gas (‘syngas’) 10,000 tonnes per year. and biochar, a dust consisting largely of Pyrolysis can be used to process carbon. In two further steps, hydrogen If successful, this demonstration plant biomass as well as plastics. This means is separated from the vapour through will pave the way for a commercial-scale outputs such as synthetic transport pressure swing adsorption (PSA), and plant capable of processing around fuels, chemical feedstocks, hydrogen, then re-combined with the bio-oil 70 tonnes per day. With such plants heat and electricity are low-carbon, or through hydro de-oxygenation (HDO). installed around Europe, this technology even – if the biochar is permanently This produces stable hydrocarbon oil could produce thousands of tonnes of sequestered – carbon negative. regardless of the exact composition of green fuel per year from organic waste, the sewage sludge feedstock, which which ToSynFuel estimates would One challenge has been to produce can then be refined into petrol or diesel. reduce greenhouse gas emissions high-quality bio-oil reliably from variable The bio-char can be spread on fields to compared to fossil fuels by more feedstocks such as sewage sludge. But enhance soil structure, where it will last than 80%. now the ToSynFuel project93, with 12 for decades. partners across five countries funded through Horizon 2020, has developed a This Thermo-Catalytic-Reforming proprietary combination of technologies (TCR®) technology was developed that solves this problem. by Fraunhofer UMSICHT in Germany, and has been licensed to a spin-off Dried sewage sludge is first heated company, Susteen Technologies. A pilot without oxygen to around 500°C in a plant at the University of Birmingham reactor that is controlled to prevent the demonstrated the process at a rate of production of tars and other 80kg of sewage sludge and 10 litres

Feedstock

Syngas

{PSA { {TC R® {

H2 Bio-oil Biochar

{HDO {

Biofuel

FIGURE 19: THERMO-CATALYTIC REFORMING OF BIOMASS TO PRODUCE SYNTHETIC TRANSPORT FUELS. SOURCE: FRAUENHOFER UMSICHT. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 41

Gasification is similar to pyrolysis but regardless of the composition of the such as long-distance, heavy-duty goes a step further, by heating waste to waste (see case study on page 42). transport, for which there are so far around 800°C to reduce the material to Another firm, LSF, has developed a no other viable options. a synthetic gas (‘syngas’) made largely of different gasification process to turn hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which waste oil into diesel and plastics into The second is that the technology can be further processed into chemical naphtha. Yet another British gasification favours much smaller plants of 5–10MW, feedstocks, diesel or hydrogen. Again, company, Waste-2-Tricity, has developed meaning they can integrate more easily the process is energy self-sufficient and a technology to turn plastics waste into into local heat networks. Crucially, they produces waste heat. hydrogen for road transport, and plans are the right size for a start-up heat to build a 35-tonne per day plant near network, where initial demand would be Gasification has long been used to turn Ellesmere Port.94 too low to interest the operator of a large coal into oil, for example, but dealing with incinerator. variable waste feedstocks has been Gasification plants may not be markedly challenging. Many gasification projects more efficient than incinerators, but they The big problem for gasification have failed and many developers gone do have significant advantages. The first developers is getting across the ‘valley bust. Now a British company, Kew is that while they can be used to produce of death’ between demonstrating and Technology, has developed and electricity, most produce chemical commercialising a technology. Publicly demonstrated a pressurised – and feedstocks, which is circular, or transport backed support for VC-stage energy therefore compact – process that turns fuels such as diesel or hydrogen, to help companies ended with closure of the MSW into a consistent syngas, decarbonise ‘hard to reach’ applications ETI and needs to be reinstated. 42 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Community- The other key feature is that the plant £15 million to bridge the ‘valley of death’ scale waste gasification is pressurised to around seven times and reach commercial lift-off. The history atmospheric pressure, which makes it of gasification makes this hard to compact. This, in turn, means it can be secure, especially since the ETI, funded Gasification is a well-established built in the factory as a modular unit and by government and industry, closed in technology for materials like coal and then transported, rather than being built 2019. That means there is no longer wood, but applying it to waste is from scratch on site every time. Factory any public support for VC-stage clean challenging because the feedstock construction should reduce costs in energy companies in Britain. We believe varies by season. This has led to a string future, and the plant’s small capacity government should revive the ETI’s of technical and corporate failures that means it can integrate with local heat VC investment role. makes the technology difficult to finance. networks more easily than a large incinerator. The ETI also conducted research Kew Technology has developed a that supports the business case for plant it believes can overcome these Kew has built a demonstration plant establishing a network of roughly 1,000 problems. Like all gasifiers, it heats its at Wednesbury in the Black Country town-scale gasifiers across the country, fuel or feedstock to around 800°C capable of processing 15,000 tonnes rather than a few large centralised produce a ‘dirty syngas’, made up of per year to produce 2MW of electricity plants. In Birmingham, this would mean hydrogen, carbon monoxide and tars. and 3MW of heat (Figure 20 below). nine plants distributed across the city The Kew plant adds a second, high- The company has proved the technology and integrated into local heat networks temperature cracking stage that works by running the plant for two (see Figure 20 and ETI case study eliminates the tars, and produces a weeks, but now needs to prove its opposite). This would produce roughly clean syngas whose proportions of reliability by running it for a full year, twice as much energy as centralised hydrogen and carbon monoxide are which would then allow insurers to incinerators of equivalent capacity. consistent regardless of any variation back a product warranty. in the feedstock. The hydrogen can be burned to generate electricity, Kew has received funding of £16 million consumed directly as transport fuel or so far, around half from the Energy used to produce synthetic diesel or Technologies Institute (ETI) and the rest chemical feedstock. from various grants and investors. The company estimates it needs a further

Key H

Feedstock preparation facility (at existing waste sites) H2 Compact power and heat plants H I

H H2

Ty sel ark ey Energy P H2

FIGURE 20: KEW TECHNOLOGY’S PLAN FOR DECENTRALISED, COMMUNITY-SCALE GASIFICATION PLANTS. SOURCE: KEW TECHNOLOGY. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 43

CASE STUDY: ETI and the-city scale plants caused higher further funding to become commercial. decentralised gasification emissions – because the rubbish had to But following the closure of the ETI, of waste and biomass be transported longer distances – and Britain has no publicly backed VC-type were harder to integrate into heat investor to provide evidence-based networks. The optimum choice was the selective support. We believe the The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), town-sized gasifier with a capacity of government should revive this role. which ran from 2007 to 2019, was a 5-20MWe. In the future energy network, partnership between the government this scenario could save £1.25 billion One further reason the ETI backed a

and six engineering companies to and 5 million tonnes of CO2 each year. network of town-sized gasifiers was that, accelerate the development of low- should Britain increase its recycling so carbon technologies. It ran 11 major On this basis, the ETI decided to successfully that it runs out of residual programmes, made targeted invest in a gasification project, first to waste, or the remaining waste becomes investments and had notable success demonstrate the technology’s reliability incompatible, the plants could run in helping to bring down the cost of and efficiency by generating electricity, equally well on biomass; there would be offshore wind. but also to support research into future no stranded assets. Separate research options, including the production of by the ETI shows that Britain has As part of its bioenergy programme, hydrogen, chemicals and fuels. enough land to grow enough miscanthus the ETI analysed potential options for or willow sustainably, from which the dealing with residual waste through The ETI favoured gasification over AD gasifiers would produce biofuels or gasification plants. It compared because AD was already beginning to bio-chemical feedstocks. Miscanthus competing scenarios in which the grow strongly under existing government and willow are particularly good for country’s residual waste was gasified incentives, and because AD supported increasing the carbon retained in the either through 50 large, city-scale the wet waste streams. Gasification soil around their roots. plants, each serving about 1 million could process a wider range of people; or 1,000 town-scale plants feedstocks, and the technology needed serving around 50,000 people; or support to overcome known technical 4,500 village-scale plants serving hurdles – such as the cleaning of around 5,000 people.95 syngas. The ETI ran a competition among several companies from which The analysis showed the village-scale Kew Technology emerged the winner plants were uneconomic because of the (see previous case study). The company disproportionate impact of labour costs, has proved its technology but needs

Third-generation technologies

Even second-generation EfW gas fields, in the UK it is therefore limited technologies that make full use of their to coastal sites or would otherwise require waste heat will continue to emit CO2. To a huge new pipeline network. Even now reach net-zero by 2050 we will need to the HyNet project is under way, no find ways to store or re-use this carbon, infrastructure is likely to get built for and some promising technologies are another decade. beginning to emerge. EfW offers an entirely different way to Over the past decade, the progress of think about CCS that may make it quicker Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in to develop, cheaper, more practical for the UK, and the policy intended to support inland areas like the Midlands – and more it, has been tortuous. This is perhaps circular. Small-scale carbon capture because of the inherent barriers to CCS technologies are already being used as originally conceived. As a large-scale with EfW to displace fossil CO2 used technology applied to fossil-fueled power in commercial greenhouses, to produce stations and industrial emitters, CCS aggregates and other building products, would need huge investments and was and to produce fully formulated fertiliser therefore high risk. And because it (see case studies overleaf). requires access to depleted oil and 44 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Carbon The mixture is topped up with extra Here, because the whole process capture fertiliser recycled nutrients – such as nitrogen happens on one site, and the fertiliser is and potassium from AD digestate and back-hauled to the farmers in the same Whereas conventional carbon capture phosphate from slaughterhouse waste trucks that deliver the crop waste, the

seeks to bury CO2 in depleted oil or gas – to produce solid fertiliser pellets. process is slightly carbon negative. reservoirs, several young companies have Unlike conventional carbon capture

developed processes to turn CO2 into processes, this reaction produces lots The company says the process is commercial products. Instead of viewing of heat, which can be used to dry out already economic and makes a project

CO2 as waste in need of disposal, they AD digestate to produce the solid. return of 15–18% without subsidy, in treat it as a resource to be returned to part because it saves water companies the circular economy. Field testing over five years has shown the need to transport sewage sludge the product works: yields are identical between sites in lorries. The company One such is CCm Technologies, or sometimes fractionally better than is in talks with three British water which takes the products of anaerobic those of fossil-based fertilisers, but with companies and one food waste

digestion (AD) to capture CO2 and scarcely a tenth of the LCA carbon company about scaling up. CCm incorporate it into fully formulated emissions; and early results suggest Technologies estimates that if its fertiliser, solving some of the problems major improvements in soil health and process was to supply half of Britain’s of using raw AD digestate on the land. retained carbon. fertiliser demand, it would save 1.3TWh

CCm has demonstrated its process of energy at 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 at a Walpole Viridor site in Somerset The company says that because of the per year. If it achieved 50% penetration where food waste is processed through energy intensity of conventional fertiliser worldwide, the annual savings would be

an AD plant to produce biogas, which production the CO2 savings are almost 100TWh and more than 350

is burned in an engine to generate enormous. Whereas each tonne of million tonnes CO2. electricity. fertiliser produced in Europe (the EEA) emits between 3.6 and 4.5 tonnes of The same technology can also be

AD digestate is 95% liquid and 5% CO2, CCm Technologies says its used to produce low-carbon fibres for solid, meaning its nutrients are dilute, the fertiliser emits less than 0.4 tonnes of strengthening fibreglass and plastics,

liquid is difficult and expensive to spread, CO2. (In the US, producing a tonne of which could displace 10% of the oil and its ammonia is unstable and can conventional fertiliser can emit up to 6.5 content, and as a means of electricity

evaporate as a powerful greenhouse gas. tonnes of CO2 and in Russia and China and heat storage.

The CCm process takes AD digestate as much as 8 tonnes of CO2). cake (the solid fibrous material) and coats it in ammonia from the liquid, and In some circumstances, the process then runs the exhaust from a biogas can even be carbon negative. CCm engine through the mixture (see Figure Technologies is working with one 21 opposite). The nitrogen in the European food manufacturer to process ammonia reacts with and captures vegetable waste and produce a fertiliser

the CO2, which in turn stabilises tailored to the needs of its suppliers. the ammonia. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 45

FIGURE 21: CARBON CAPTURE FERTILISER PRODUCTION PROCESS. SOURCE: CCM

Nutrient additives ie, recycled ammonia and phosphorus

Cellulose fibre

Carbon Fertiliser dioxide pellets

Aqueous ammonia

Heat

CASE STUDY: Netherlands In 2019, the energy-from-waste One problem is that the greenhouses incinerator carbon capture operator AVR added carbon capture to need the CO2 only between March and for greenhouses its incinerator in Duiven, near Arnhem, to October, which hurts the business case;

supply 60,000 tonnes of CO2 per year to make carbon capture commercial to greenhouses nearby. It is the latest requires year-round operation. One The Netherlands may be tiny but it is and largest of several such projects. possibility is that in winter incinerators

an enormous exporter of agricultural Each tonne of external CO2 saves the could send their CO2 to the Porthos

products – second only to the US. Most greenhouses 0.95 tonnes of CO2 in CCS project being developed in the of its fruit and vegetables are produced their own emissions. port of Rotterdam, intended to sequester

in vast greenhouse complexes, some of industrial CO2 in a depleted gas field which cover 175 acres each. The total AGR’s pilot plant captures only 15% of offshore.100 This project would be viable area of land under glass is 1.5 times the incinerator’s total emissions, but the at an EU ETS carbon price of €30/ the size of Manhattan.96 same amine-cycle technology could tonne101, only €5/tonne higher than the capture up to 90% if market incentives price in February 2020102, and awaits Dutch greenhouses are so productive existed to justify the extra investment. a decision on further Dutch and EU partly because the growers burn natural In total, the Netherlands’ greenhouses support.

gas to provide electricity, heat, and extra consume 2 million tonnes of CO2 per

CO2 to make the plants grow faster year, while its incinerators emit just If Dutch incinerators were to supply – ‘even when it’s warm outside and the under 8 million tonnes per year.99 So, greenhouses in the summer and Porthos vents are open’.97 But this is hardly in principle, Dutch horticulture could CCS in the winter, because two-thirds of

sustainable, and the industry is source all its CO2 from incinerators – the carbon burned by Dutch incinerators beginning to turn to EfW to help with three times more left over for other is biogenic and only one-third fossil, the reduce its emissions.98 applications. overall impact would be negative fossil

CO2 emissions. 46 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Carbon Agency, meaning they are safe to absorbs almost ten times as much

capture building materials use in concrete blocks. The company CO2 per tonne of material as APCr

estimates the life cycle CO2 saving for (the company proved its technology When waste is burned in incinerators each tonne of APCr they process is can capture carbon dioxide direct from

about 20% of the original weight ends 44kgCO2. flue gases at a Canadian cement plant up as incinerator bottom ash (IBA), in 2018). The company is in talks with which is usually recycled as aggregates In Britain, three full-scale plants major incinerator companies and cement for roadbuilding. A further 3–5% ends operate under licence at concrete block producers in the UK and abroad. It says

up trapped in the chimney’s filters as air manufacturers in Leeds, Avonmouth the introduction of a CO2 price, or other

pollution control residues (APCr). These and Brandon (where APCr and CO2 measures to encourage demand for contain a range of contaminants and are trucked in). Carbon8 Systems says low-carbon aggregates, could transform must be disposed of in specialist landfill. the process is already economic, and the markets it sells into. But now Carbon8 Systems, originally that the cost of carbon capture is more a spin-out from the University of than covered by avoided landfill tax. One Both Carbon8 and CCm are commercial Greenwich, has developed a way to use advantage of this technology is that the already, but small-scale CCS clearly

APCr to capture CO2 to produce more CO2 is permanently sequestered, but needs policy support including R&D, VC aggregates to manufacture concrete the amount captured is limited by the and market support mechanisms. Since blocks. availability of APCr and other reactive these technologies capture only a small

residues. We estimate that if all of percentage of EfW CO2, we urge the The company’s plant, housed in a Britain’s APCr were treated through government to launch an R&D grand shipping container, employs simple a Carbon8 Systems plant, it would challenge to develop technologies that

chemistry to speed up the natural capture around 20,000tCO2 and can singly or jointly capture and reuse

process of carbonation. Chemicals produce almost 402,000 tonnes of all of the CO2 emitted by EfW and turn

in the APCr react with and trap CO2 aggregates for use in concrete blocks, it into useful products rather than direct from the incinerator’s flue gas representing about 1% of the UK energy or fuels. This is precisely the to produce calcium carbonate within market.103 kind of problem the government’s new 20 minutes rather than the decades or US ARPA-style research agency, with millennia it takes in nature. In the UK, the Carbon8’s technology can be applied funding of £800 million, is intended resulting aggregates have received ‘end to other industrial wastes, however, to solve. of life’ approval from the Environment including cement kiln dust, which

CO2NTAINER ‘Plug and play’ on your site

CO2NTAINER Mobile unit delivered to your site reduces build time Building materials High value

Landfill Cost savings on landfill CO gate fees and taxes 2 Reduced CO2 released into the atmosphere and emissions control costs Construction industry

Waste by-products Steel slag, APCr, ashes Industry Steel, cement, chemicals O&G, MSWI

FIGURE 22: AGGREGATES MADE FROM INCINERATOR AIR POLLUTION CONTROL RESIDUES (APCR). SOURCE: CARBON8 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 47 48 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

6. THE RESOURCE RECOVERY CLUSTER: A MIDLANDS CASE STUDY Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 49

We believe the best way to improve How would it work? The combination of mechanical and the sustainability of energy-from-waste Each cluster would reflect its local chemical technologies could raise the could be to organise it into local Resource conditions and so each would be recycling rate to around 90% of the Recovery Clusters, initially in the different. But in principle, all would plastics received (see Binn EcoPark case Midlands. Each cluster would co-locate include a range of recycling, EfW, study on page 54). PVC would go to the waste processing technologies and manufacturing, horticultural and other incinerator or gasifier. sources of demand for their energy and businesses to maximise recycling and physical outputs to maximise recycling minimise emissions. All the businesses Other specialist recycling facilities and minimise CO2 emissions. The clusters could be connected to the cluster’s heat, – batteries, mattresses, tyres – could also would also provide a testbed for electricity, gas and CO2 networks, and be located in the cluster, and powered innovative and increasingly circular EfW each could consume another’s physical by heat and electricity from the cluster’s and carbon capture technologies that outputs (see Figure 23). networks. could then be rolled out more widely in decentralised community-scale energy On the EfW side, the cluster could On the demand side, any business and resource centres. These would be built around an existing incinerator needing heat, cooling, cheaper electricity greatly reduce CO2 emissions from and/or include any combination of new and any of the cluster’s physical outputs ‘waste miles’. gasification, pyrolysis and AD plants. would make sense.

The clusters could be created either The incinerator would probably process Large-scale horticulture or vertical around an existing incinerator where the bulk of the residual waste received to farming would benefit in several ways. there is land available, such as the Tyseley feed heat and electricity into the cluster’s The greenhouse operator could feed its Energy Park in Birmingham, or created networks. The gasifier could also run on green waste into the AD plant, which in from scratch on post-industrial land, such black bag waste or biomass, to produce turn could supply digestate or upgraded as decommissioned coal-fired power either electricity, chemical feedstocks, fertiliser (potentially tailored to the stations and redundant manufacturing transport fuels or hydrogen, and would greenhouse’s specific nutrient sites, of which the Midlands has plenty. also contribute heat to the network. The requirements). The greenhouse could These sites typically already have large pyrolysis – or chemical recycling – plant also take heat from the heat network, and grid connections, making them ideal for could run on mixed plastics or biomass, to CO2, to make its plants more productive, electricity generation and/or injecting AD produce chemical feedstocks and heat for sourced from any of the EfW plants. biomethane into the gas grid. The first AD the network. An AD plant would receive injection plant was built at Didcot in 2011, food and agricultural waste from local Paper plants would also be a natural and there are now more than 100 in farms and businesses or those on site, fit, needing both heat and power, and the UK. to produce biomethane for transport, producing offcuts that could be treated digestate or upgraded fertiliser, and heat by AD. Plastics manufacturing and food The energy produced by the clusters for the network. In some locations (rural processing could also benefit from the would be not only lower carbon, but but with adequate gas infrastructure), a low-carbon, low-cost heat and power. also lower cost – provided through large AD plant could service many farms short-distance heat networks and private on a ‘hub and spoke’ model and inject Waste heat can be converted into cooling wire power grids – which could attract biomethane into the grid. using absorption or adsorption chillers. businesses to relocate there, even from Users could include food processers abroad. This chimes with existing work On the recycling side, an MRF (Materials and data storage companies. by BEIS (the Department for Business, Recycling Facility), powered by the private Energy & Industrial Strategy) and the wire network, would receive recycling Third-generation carbon capture Department for International Trade, waste and sort into the various streams, technologies could be integrated into known as the Load Creation Model, to be recycled either on site or at other the EfW plants to turn exhaust CO2 into designed to lure inward investment by facilities nearby. products such as aggregates and providing secure, economic and low- fertiliser (see Carbon8 Systems and CCm carbon energy supplies. A co-located mechanical plastics Technologies case studies, pages 44 and recycling plant would process the PET 46) and to supply the greenhouses.

The clusters would improve CO2 and HDPE (bottles, etc,) amenable to this emissions and circularity in the short treatment, and the PP and PE (films, bags, The clusters would produce immediate term but would also support the laminates such as crisp packets and CO2 emissions reductions and increase innovation needed to reach net-zero sweet wrappers and composites), which circularity in the short term. But no less and a far more circular economy by 2050. cannot be recycled mechanically, would valuable would be the innovation they be processed by chemical recycling would stimulate, demonstrating and (pyrolysis plant) into virgin-quality oil. advancing the technologies needed to Chemical recycling is closed-loop, achieve net-zero and thorough-going meaning it can be used to produce circularity by 2050. identical products to those discarded. 50 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

FIGURE 23: THE RESOURCE RECOVERY CLUSTER

RESIDUAL WASTE

HEAT

r pe Pa

PRODUCTS Incinerator with CCS

Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)

ELECTRICITY

Paper manufacturer

Plastics

Light engineering

GAS/H2

Electrolyser

H2 STATION

Mechanical recycling

KEY Chemical recycling Onsite waste transfer (pyrolysis) Onsite product transfer

CO2 recycling PRODUCTS Heat transfer Electricity transfer PLASTICS FACTORY

Gas/H2 transfer Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 51

GA S/H ELEC 2 NE TRIC TW ITY OR Ai r pollutio H N K n contro EA E l resi T T dues NE W DATA CENTRE (AP T O Cr) WO RK RK FOOD PLANT

COOLING

ELECTRICITY Aggregates

Absorption chillers

PRODUCTS

Greenhouses Resource Recovery Cluster Fertiliser

l a & i r e e t t a a t s m

e r ig e h D t o

BIOMASS

Anaerobic digester

GAS/H Bio-fuels

Station 2 PRODUCTS

Pyrolysis

BIOMASS 52 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

Rationale

Huge improvement in waste be integrated into distributed, community- Of these we highlight: resource efficiency scale schemes. In particular, small-scale n T yseley Energy Park Resource Recovery Clusters would carbon capture technologies that produce n Phoenix 10 Enterprise Zone n greatly improve CO2 emissions and fertiliser and building products from CO2 Coal-fired power stations resource efficiency in both energy and could be demonstrated and further in Nottinghamshire: materials. Waste heat is critical: making developed on EfW plants in the clusters. – Cottam, Nottinghamshire use of incinerators’ waste heat could (recently closed105)

reduce CO2 emissions per unit energy by Economies of scale – West Burton (closing by 2024) half or even more. Clusters could make While the broad thrust of EfW – High Marnham (closing by 2024) better use of this waste heat more quickly technologies is towards smaller plants – Ratcliffe-on-Soar (owned by than the alternative, district heating. The (gasification, pyrolysis, and AD), for some Uniper, closing 2024) waste heat could also be used to drive difficult-to-recycle products such as tyres – Rugeley (closed 2016, being absorption chillers for food, data or mattresses, it could make sense to redeveloped for housing) processing, and perhaps to supply build one plant with a larger catchment high-energy-consuming sites nearby area to gain economies of scale. The Midlands’ fleet of incinerators is such as airports. ageing, and in any case the predicted City-regions could achieve big economies capacity gap is 2.5 million tonnes per Combining conventional and novel waste of scale if they each appointed one year106, which makes the region ideal processing and recycling plants on one contractor to deal with hard-to-recycle to pilot this approach. site would give them access to low- products like tyres or mattresses. This is carbon, low-cost energy, reduce transport better done at the city-regional level than The Resource Recovery Clusters chime emissions and maximise the proportion national. First, it keeps logistics distances with existing initiatives, such as the Energy of material recovered: combining an shorter; second, it suits the scale of Innovation Zones and the East Midlands MRF, mechanical plastics recycling and technologies; and third, a national Development Corporation, which is chemical plastics recycling could raise approach would be winner-takes-all and developing plans for Ratcliffe, East the plastics recycling rate to 90%. would not optimise local solutions. One Midlands Airport and the HS2 station idea could be to offer incentives to industry at Toton. If our ideas are welcomed, they Many levels of circularity could be (producers and waste processors) to should be integrated with these initiatives developed. For instance, if an AD plant create specialist centres for these types before any opportunities are closed off. and greenhouses were co-located, the of products. greenhouse could feed horticultural The economic benefits to the Midlands waste to the AD plant, and in return take Why the Midlands? could be large. An analysis by Advantage digestate or upgraded fertiliser, heat and The Midlands is well-endowed with West Midlands (AWM) in 2010 found that

CO2 to make the tomatoes grow faster. potential sites, either land available around in the West Midlands the wholesale cost The AD plant could also inject biomethane existing incinerators, such as the Tyseley of energy, compost and fertiliser totalled

to the gas grid, and the heat and CO2 Energy Park, decommissioned coal-fired £3.9 billion, while the wholesale value could be also provided by other EfW power stations, of which there are many of the carbon contained in the region’s technologies. and will soon be more, and redundant waste was almost £500 million.107 manufacturing sites (see map and case Innovation studies on page 56) study. These sites There may be an opportunity for local Clustering would not only reduce offer plenty of space, pre-existing authorities in the Midlands to take a lead waste-miles but has also been shown electricity and gas grid connections in the transition by securing the waste to encourage innovation.104 The waste and perhaps staff with transferable skills. streams and necessary processing and consuming businesses in the cluster Planning permission may be easier here capacity, so generating regional would be umbilically connected by than in more populous areas. expertise that can then be exported. heat, electricity and gas networks, and collaborating to innovate would be Research by the Commission has natural. Innovative technologies could uncovered a long – though certainly not be demonstrated here in order to prove comprehensive – list of other sites to their reliability, allowing them then to consider (see map opposite). Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 53

Governance and funding n Councils control the planning consent arrangements required. Many will need Local authorities should be central to process and have some powers to help with both from central government. establishing and governing Resource steer development in their areas The government has granted £2 million Recovery Clusters: n Coordination between various different in seed funding to the East Midlands n Each area will have different assets areas of planning responsibility – Development Corporation, which may and needs, meaning the local or waste, physical infrastructure, provide one model. Others could include regional authority is the natural economic and energy – will be vital regional authorities – which might be the governing body to the success of these schemes. natural choice, where they exist – such as n Councils let the contracts for collection WMCA, Local Enterprise Partnerships and disposal of waste, and often After a decade of austerity, however, many and Energy Innovation Zones. collect the waste themselves, and councils have neither the resources nor waste collection can be a sensitive the capacity to take the strategic political issue in some areas decisions and make the commercial

FIGURE 24: ENERGY-FROM WASTE PLANTS, CENTRES OF ACADEMIC EXPERTISE, AND SAMPLE POST-INDUSTRIAL SITES IN THE MIDLANDS. SEE APPENDIX 1 FOR FULL LIST OF SITES.

Key ERA university Potential RRC area Energy innovation zone Existing EfW Case study 54 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

Box 4: What is the right size (see case studies, pages 42 and case studies on page 58), and a wide for a Resource Recovery 43) was ‘town scale’, each serving a collection of recycling and other assets Cluster? population of around 50,000, meaning are built around them to make the best the UK would need around 1,000 use of all their outputs. plants. Further research is needed, but The short answer is – it depends. And the optimum scale and distribution of As new recycling and EfW technologies contrary to the normal expectation in RRCs may turn out to be similar. are demonstrated, new RCCs would technology development, it seems likely become smaller and more closely that the first RRCs may be large and We are where we are, however. Most integrated with local economies. The later ones smaller. existing incinerators are large, with ultimate goal would be to make the catchment areas and logistics to match, incinerator redundant or truly residual, The optimum size of any plant will and with an average age of just over as at Binn EcoPark (see case study depend on many factors: the inherent 11 years, many will be operating for below), where the planned incinerator characteristics and economics of the decades to come. But that is no excuse is just 8.5MW. technology, policy incentives, and not to exploit their waste heat and other existing infrastructure and systems. outputs to make them as low-emission Whether or not this is the optimum size But several factors favour smaller plants and circular as possible. for RRCs would need further research. in the future: easier integration into start- It may well turn out that ‘right’ size for up heat networks; reduced waste miles; So it may be that early RRCs centre an RRC will always differ by location local circular economies. Analysis by the on a large existing incinerator such as and circumstances. ETI found optimum scale for gasifiers Tyseley, and potentially Ratcliffe (see

CASE STUDY: Beacon The PlasSort 3000, developed by The project is part of the Beacon Project Project, Binn EcoPark Pi Polymer Recycling, uses advanced and has received £5.2 million in funding optical technology to separate plastics under the Tay Cities Deal, and into separate fractions to feed co-located £570,000 from the Zero Waste Some of the ideas of the Resource mechanical and chemical recycling Scotland Circular Economy Investment Recovery Cluster are already being put plants. It is the world’s first plant to Fund, a partnership between local, into practice at the Binn EcoPark, near optically sort large rigid plastics such Scottish and UK governments and the Glenfarg in Perthshire. The 200-hectare as crates, pipes and broken toys. private, academic and voluntary sectors. site already hosts two material The project is currently seeking a further reclamation facilities for commercial and The chemical recycling will be provided £10–15 million in funding. industrial waste; a 30,000-tonne per by Recycling Technologies’ RT7000 unit year anaerobic digester; composting; (see case study, page 39), which turns Binn EcoPark also hosts a private wire wood and aggregates recycling; and previously unrecyclable plastics – electricity grid and a 10MW wind farm. production of solid recovered fuel including crisp packets, chocolate bar It also has plans to build a small-scale (SRF). But soon these will be joined wrappers, food pouches and films – into (8.5MW) incinerator for residual waste. by an Advanced Plastics Sorting and a hydrocarbon feedstock to produce Upcycling Facility (APSuF), which could fresh plastics. help create a local circular economy in plastics. This combination of smart sorting and mechanical and chemical recycling The APSuF will combine a state-of-the- should raise the recycling rate from art plastics sorting plant with both around 20% to around 90% of all mechanical and chemical recycling plastics received108 – even if plants. This means all types of plastic can householders and businesses be collected in a single bin, which should continue to put all types of plastic increase recycling rates. into a single bin. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 55

FIGURE 25: THE BEACON PROJECT AT BINN FARM, GLENFARG, PERTHSHIRE. SOURCE: ECOIDEAM

FIGURE 26: THE BEACON PROJECT ADVANCED PLASTICS RECYCLING FACILITY SOURCE: ECOIDEAM Project Beacon – Advanced Plastics Recycling Facility

Waste plastics inputs Advanced Plastics Recycling Facility (A-PRF) Outputs (whole catchment)

C&I segregated Plaxx 50 Chemical recycling suite Plaxx 30 Domestic kerbside Material preparation Pyrolysis Plaxx 16 Agriculture Product distillation Plaxx 8

Large rigid plastics

Mechanical Shredded plastics recycling suite Dry mix recycling rejects Washed granulate Shredding Anaerobic digestion de-packaging residues Granulation Pelletised polymers Wash/Dry

Single stream Integrated multi-stream plastic sorting facility De-dust post-consumer plastics Weigh/Inventory Deposit Fund Scheme Pelletising (DRS) Compatible

Waste Residual disposal Landfill/Energy from waste 56 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Tyseley biomass power plant, which has diverted a pilot pyrolysis plant for producing Energy Park 72,000 tonnes of waste wood from synthetic fuels from sewage sludge landfill. The power is used on site to (see case study, page 40). Tyseley Energy Park (TEP) is an ideal reduce Webster and Horsfall’s energy site for a Resource Recovery Cluster. costs and emissions. Surplus power is Future phases will include the University In fact, it is already beginning to look also sold by the private wire network to of Birmingham’s Innovation Hub, with like one. The site covers 16 acres of tenants on the site – one of which is the extensive facilities for research into post-industrial land vacated by Webster depot for a fleet of rent-by-the-hour energy, energy storage and critical and Horsfall, which makes wire and electric taxis – or exported to the grid. materials. The University also plans wire rope, as its manufacturing footprint to build a rare earth magnet recycling shrank. The company is developing the The next step was to build Britain’s first facility here. site as an energy park to power its own low- and zero-carbon refuelling station operations and to supply low-carbon for commercial fleets including rubbish TEP already produces some energy electricity, heat and transport fuels to its trucks, buses and other commercial and from waste through its wood gasification business tenants and customers in the private vehicles. The fuels include plant, but it is ideally sized and situated city. Its partners include the University of hydrogen produced by an electrolyser to expand into a full-scale Resource Birmingham, the City Council, the Local installed by ITM Power; compressed Recovery Cluster. The site sits between Enterprise Partnership and several natural gas supplied by CNG Fuels; the city centre and Birmingham Airport, private sector organisations. and synthetic fuels with lower tailpipe and next door to the main incinerator, emissions such as the Shell GTL diesel operated by Veolia, meaning the city’s In the first stage of the project, provided by Certas Energy. The station rubbish is already brought right to its Birmingham Biopower invested £47 also has commercial-scale electric doorstep. million to build a 10MW waste wood charging points. TEP also hosts

LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS (LPG) Inside the biodigester, REDUCE TOTAL The state-of-the-art Energy Recovery biological residues are Facility in Tyseley takes 350,000 tonnes Liquefied Petroleum Gas Waste, low-grade broken down in the CO2 EMISSIONS of Birmingham’s rubbish each year and heat from the district ENERGY Imported to the site by tanker. Stored for absence of air and light BY 60% BY 2027 converts it into electricity at a rate of heating network FROM WASTE refuelling vehicles. Provides a lower-carbon 23.5 tonnes per hour. The output is used to promote FROM 1990 LEVELS alternative than conventional petrol 25MW exported to the National Grid. and diesel. anaerobic digestion.

Biomethane Plant BIO POWER PLANT The new 10.3MWBirmingham Birmingham Bio Power Bio Plant 25MW gasification technology used to generate The waste products from Power Plant uses gasification technology The new district electricity from recovered wood waste. the anaerobic digestor The gas treatment plant improves to generate electricity from recovered heating network will The 10.3 MW biomass power project can be sent to the TCR the methane quality and content wood waste. 10.3MW provide heat to businesses has been developed by Carbonarius. plant for further energy in order to make it suitable for and industry for space recovery. injection into the gas grid. and process heat. Using clean energy made 80,000 from waste. CNG FILLING STATION Waste wood will be tonnes/year gasified and turned into 107,000 tonnes/year Natural Gas from the Grid heat and power. This Filling station is compressed for use in class A-C waste wood CO2 SAVING provides clean CNG (Compressed Natural would otherwise have LPG and CNG for Gas) powered vehicles. ended up in landfill. refuelling vehicles.

The AMR centre will develop advanced Advanced Materials Recycling: technologies to recover strategic Research & Development Centre ENERGY SKILLS ACADEMY elements and critical materials using advanced processes and robotic SOLAR POWER RETROFIT UNIVERSITY TECHNICAL COLLEGE waste separation technologies. Solar panels mounted on A new Institute of Energy Technologies will be the roof of industrial units established to educate the next generation of generates clean electricity energy engineers and nurture research into the which can be fed into the latest energy technologies. This will be based local microgrid. in a signature building with exemplar energy As a waste product, the TCR process performance and demonstrating cutting-edge produces “Biochar” which is useful as energy technologies. a soil improver for agricultural purposes. COMMUNITY ENERGY ENABLEMENT HUB Funding from the Local Growth Fund will BIOCHAR BY PRODUCT enable the creation of a facility to help in the development of bottom-up distributed INPUTS energy solutions that meet the needs of High Feedstock Flexibility The hydrogen is clean communities. This will help communities o Animal manure ‘green’ deliver cleaner more efficient solutions BUSINESS ACCELERATOR o Agricultural residues renewables, rather than for their energy services. o Straw, husk ‘brown’ AND SME SUPPORT HUB o Food waste reformation of methane. o Organic waste The SME Support Hub will help local o Sewage sludge businesses consider more sustainable and o Municipal solid saste The Tyseley Environmental Enterprise District efficient ways to deliver the energy services o Biogas digestage (TCR PLANT) BIO-BATTERY: covers over 230 businesses and around 100 that their business require. This could be THERMAL CATALYTIC REFORMING hectares of traditional industrial land. through the introduction of new energy technologies, systems integration, or through The TCR process used in the bio-battery new energy business models. produces biodiesel from a range of feedstocks. This can be used in clean Canal Wharf on the Tyseley Energy Park Euro IV diesel engines. Efficiency can be site could provide a distribution point for improved further by creating a ‘heat clean fuels to river barges. Waste for the hybrid’ with a diesel engine. The hydrogen filling station supplies biomass plant and Energy from Waste green hydrogen from both the electrolyser and plant could be brought in by barge as an bio-battery thermo-catalytic reforming process. FIGURE 27: TYSELEY ENERGY PARK PLAN. alternative to the road SOURCE: WEBSTER AND HORSFALL Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 57

FIGURE 28: TYSELEY ENERGY PARK WOOD GASIFIER (ABOVE) AND LOW-CARBON The Veolia incinerator generates FUEL STATION (BELOW). SOURCE: WEBSTER AND HORSFALL 25MW of electricity but makes no use of its waste heat – despite being within five miles of the city’s district heating network (see Case study: Birmingham heat network, page 34). The plant was built in 1996 and may soon be replaced. If so, it would make sense to replace it with an efficient and possibly smaller plant as the heart of a Resource Recovery Cluster. The incinerator, and other second-generation EfW plants, could provide low-carbon energy for electricity and heat-hungry recycling processes such as MRF plants, plastics, paper and glass (see main text), and heat-and-cooling-intensive businesses such as food processing and data storage.

ONSITE WIND POWER GENERATION

‘Wrong time’ renewable energy generated by the on-site renewables and/or taken from the grid is used to produce cryogenic ‘liquid air’ which can be stored easily to generate electricity at times of peak load. The liquid Liquid Nitrogen air can also be shipped off-site and used to power ‘Dearman engines’ to provide cold and power.

The new district heating network will provide heat to businesses and industry for space and process heat. Using clean energy made from waste. LIQUID AIR FILLING STATION

The refrigerated lorry uses a revolutionary new ‘Dearman Engine’ to provide clean cooling, without the associated emissions of diesel transport refrigeration units. Liquid nitrogen produced on the CRYOGENIC Tyseley site powers the vehicle. ENERGY STORAGE Low-grade waste Webster & Horsfall Wire heat from the district BIODIESEL FILLING Manufacturing Operation heating system is used STATION to boost the efficiency of the cryogenic energy storage system. ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATION Modern fuel cell vehicles can refill at the hydrogen filling station. The hydrogen is clean ‘green’ hydrogen from renewables, rather than ‘brown’ hydrogen from steam reformation of methane. The electrolyser converts wrong-time renewable electricity The hydrogen is clean into hydrogen. This can be efficiently turned ‘green’ hydrogen from back into electricity using a fuel cell. renewables, rather than ‘brown’ hydrogen from steam reformation of methane.

HYDROGEN HYDROGEN-POWERED ELECTROLYSER BUSES AND TAXIS

The hydrogen filling station supplies green hydrogen from both the electrolyser and The electrolyser can be used to provide bio-battery thermo-catalytic reforming process. grid balancing by turning ‘wrong-time’ energy into clean hydrogen. 58 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

CASE STUDY: Uniper, a German energy company, technologies at scale. Together, East Midlands post- has recently announced plans to build EMERGE and CIZCF could form the industrial sites a 500,000-tonnes per year, 49.9MW basis of a large RRC. incinerator, and hopes to attract businesses to re-locate to make use of Ratcliffe-on-Soar is only one of several The East Midlands also has several the plant’s waste heat.109 A total of 675 coal-fired power station sites in the East sites that could make ideal Resource acres are available once the coal-fired Midlands that could serve the same Recovery Clusters. station has been dismantled, and the purpose. Others include High Marnham, company says a significant area is Cottam and West Burton A, owned by The recently formed East Midlands already available. Uniper says the plant EDF Energy. Development Corporation (EMDC) has will start to operate in 2025 and will an ambitious development for three sites, be called the EMERGE (East Midlands These sites are not as well connected East Midlands Airport, the HS2 station at Energy Re-Generation) Centre. Uniper to the road network as Ratcliffe-on-Soar Toton and the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power has committed to making its European but have large grid connections that station, which together cover more than power generation climate neutral by could be exploited. Their relative 1,200 acres. Of these sites, it is the last 2035.110 remoteness could make them good location that looks most prospective as sites for services such as data storage. an RRC. The EMDC’s plans for the Ratcliffe- Cottam is close to a large gas grid on-Soar site include a new Centre connection, and EDF has plans to build Ratcliffe-on-Soar is currently a coal-fired for Integrated Zero Carbon Futures, a new gas-fired plant at West Burton, power station, which under government bringing together regional expertise, to so both could be potential sites for policy will close by 2024. The owner, demonstrate clean energy and building large-scale AD and biogas injection.

FIGURE 29: COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGE SHOWING PROPOSED DESIGN OF EMERGE CENTRE BUILDING. SOURCE: UNIPER Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 59

CASE STUDY: Black aluminium; the co-location of smelting Country smelting revival and manufacturing means the aluminium would be melted only once, not twice, saving energy and cost; and the use of Another site that could be re-purposed district heating to distribute low-grade as a Resource Recovery Centre is the waste heat to the surrounding housing former IMI James Bridge Copper and industrial areas would increase Smelting works near the M6 in Walsall. energy efficiency. There is also a strong The plant closed in 1999, ending 400 cultural fit with the history and skills years of copper smelting in Walsall. It base of the local people. was the last copper smelting facility in the UK, a local landmark and anchor employer.

The Black Country LEP is currently exploring the potential to revive the site as a hub for aluminium recovery, smelting and manufacturing, to make components for the automotive and aerospace industries. The location, which is close to the centre of the national motorway network, is ideal for the logistics of collecting recycled 60 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

APPENDIX 1. KEY TO MAP, LISTING EFW AND ERA ASSETS, AND A NON-EXCLUSIVE LIST OF SAMPLE SITES FOR RESOURCE RECOVERY CLUSTERS. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 61

NAME TYPE OF FACILITY/INSTITUTION NAME TYPE OF FACILITY/INSTITUTION University of Birmingham ERA University MES Environmental Ltd, University of Nottingham ERA University Waste to Energy Plant, Existing EfW Stoke on Trent Keele University ERA University Battlefield Energy Existing EfW University of Leicester ERA University Recovery Facility Aston University ERA University Mercia Waste Existing EfW British Geological Management ERA University Survey Birmingham Bio Power University of Warwick ERA University Biomass Gasification Existing EfW Cranfield University ERA University Plant Energy Innovation MES Environmental Tyseley Energy Park EIZ Zone and case study Limited Waste to Energy Existing EfW Plant, Wolverhampton Coventry and Energy Innovation Zone Warwickshire EIZ CEG UK Ltd Existing EfW Equitix ESI CHP UK Central Hub EIZ Energy Innovation Zone Existing EfW (Nottingham) Limited Black Country EIZ Energy Innovation Zone Ancillary Components Sustainable Energy Existing EfW Case study Limited EfW Centre Newlincs Development Nottingham Heat Existing EfW Case study Ltd, EfW Network HS2 Station Toton Scunthorpe Potential RRC Area Industrial Papermaker/AD Plant Case study Case Study East Midlands Airport Potential RRC Area High Marnham Power Ratcliffe Power Station Case study Potential RRC Area Station Veolia Household Recycling Centre Cottam Power Station Potential RRC Area Existing EfW Tyseley and Energy East Birmingham Urban/ Potential RRC Area Recovery Facility Industrial The Coventry and Staffordshire Potteries Potential RRC Area Solihull Waste Disposal Existing EfW Urban/Industrial Company Ltd Black Country Industrial Potential RRC Area North Hykeham Energy Sandwell District Existing EfW Potential RRC Area from Waste Tata Steel Heating Eastcroft EfW Plant Existing EfW Lincolnshire Rural Potential RRC Area Peterborough Energy Existing EfW Derby Urban/Industrial Potential RRC Area from Waste Facility Shrewsbury Rural Potential RRC Area Dudley Energy from Existing EfW Waste Facility Wednesbury Rural Potential RRC Area Worcestershire Rural/ EMR Oldbury Existing EfW Potential RRC Area Industrial Coventry Urban Potential RRC Area Scunthorpe Urban/ Potential RRC Area Industrial 62 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

APPENDIX 2. COMMISSIONERS’ BIOGRAPHIES Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 63

CHAIR ACADEMIC LEAD 1. Lord Robin Teverson 2. Martin Freer

Lord Teverson was Member of the Professor Freer is Director of both the and its strategic innovation translation European Parliament for Cornwall and Birmingham Energy Institute (BEI) and the ambitions including the Midlands Energy West Plymouth between 1994 and 1999, Energy Research Accelerator (ERA). He Consortium, the Energy Research becoming one of the first two Liberal is former Director of the Birmingham Accelerator, Energy Capital and Democrats elected to the European Centre for Nuclear Education and Sustainable Clean Cold. David’s current Parliament. Research, which he established in 2010. mission is to support BEI to deliver a new His background is in Nuclear Physics for Energy Innovation Hub within the city’s He was Chief Whip of the European which he was awarded the Rutherford Energy Innovation Zone. Liberal Democrat Group from 1997 to Medal for his contributions to the subject. 1999. In Europe, he spoke on marine, He has overseen the development of the 4. Adam Chase transport and regional policy issues, and BEI, helped establish Energy Capital and was previously spokesperson in the Lords has co-led the establishment of the joint Adam Chase has overall responsibility for for Environment, Food and Rural affairs. University of Birmingham–Fraunhofer E4tech’s work on low-carbon transport Germany research platform. and on energy innovation and policy. He He joined the Liberal Democrat group in has been a director of E4tech since the House of Lords in 2006, speaking on To date, Professor Freer has supported joining in 2001 and he plays a role in climate change and energy issues. He is a three policy commissions for the University many of the firm’s projects where strategy, trustee of the Green Purposes Company, of Birmingham, the first on the ‘Future of policy or stakeholder engagement – in which holds the ‘green share’ in the Green Nuclear Energy in the UK,’ the second on combination with technology – are key. Investment Bank, and a trustee of the ‘Doing Cold Smarter’, an examination of Adam’s project work often relates to North Devon Biosphere Foundation. the global demand for clean cooling corporate or national strategy and involves technologies and the potential for UK an understanding of how energy systems Before entering parliament, Robin had leadership and the third on ‘Powering operate, rather than technologies in a 20-year career in the freight industry. West Midlands Growth: A Regional isolation. Adam’s particular interest is Approach to Clean Energy Innovation.’ low-carbon innovation in the energy On 1 June 2006, he was created a life and automotive sectors. He also has peer as Baron Teverson of Tregony in COMMISSIONERS operational responsibility for the the County of Cornwall. London office. 3. David Boardman Adam was previously a manager with Dr David Boardman is a Fellow of the the global management consulting firm Institute for Knowledge Transfer, Head A.T. Kearney, where he took part in and of Strategic Projects for the College of led teams engaged in a wide range of Engineering and Physical Sciences and strategic and operational projects across Deputy Director of the Birmingham the international energy and chemicals Energy Institute (BEI). sectors. Prior to this, Adam worked for seven years in the upstream and Whilst developing his career at downstream oil and gas industry and Birmingham he led the Birmingham team also spent time as a journalist with the that helped to deliver the national Mini- Financial Times organisation, focusing Waste Faraday Partnership, the national on energy, environment and automotive Waste Minimisation Knowledge Transfer issues. He has degrees in Economics, Network and the national Environmental Engineering (University of Birmingham), Sustainability Knowledge Transfer and Energy and Environmental Technology Network. Over the last six years he has (Imperial College). He speaks English, supported the development of the BEI French and conversational Italian.

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COMMISSIONERS 5. Matthias Franke 8. Daniel Mee

Dr Matthias Franke is the Head of the Andreas holds 19 patents and has Daniel Mee joined the Energy Systems Department of Recycling Management, published over 150 scientific publications Catapult in August 2016 as their Energy Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, to date. In 2014, his institute employed Systems Architect initially to explore whole Safety and Energy Technology an estimated 120 staff members who system approaches to the challenge of UMSICHT, Germany. are doing applied research in various decarbonising domestic heat and also to sustainable topics. bring a systems of systems engineering Matthias Franke graduated from approach to energy system design. Prior the Agricultural Engineering and The main strategic topic of Andreas’s to that, he was the Chief Engineer on a Environmental Protection Engineering work today is the development of number of Electrical Power Systems in the Program at the University of Rostock. decentralized power-providing units aviation industry responsible for both ‘clean He is a member of the Board of Directors combined with pyrolysis, gasification and sheet’ system development and multi-party of the German Society for Waste digestion units – called the Biobattery. integration, leading multi-disciplinary teams Management (DGAW) and a member of engineers to deliver smart electrical of the scientific advisory board of the 7. Peter Jones distribution system solutions for some Circular Economy Coalition for Europe of the world’s most successful aircraft (CEC4Europe) and the European Peter Jones has 30 years’ experience manufacturers. Daniel holds an MEng Biomass Conference and Exhibition in the UK waste material sector, 20 from the University of Birmingham. (EUBCE). Since 2009, he has been as Director of Biffa where he was teaching at the Technical University responsible for logistics, sales and 9. Matthew Rhodes of Munich, where he teaches waste marketing and business development management in the international study strategy. He expounded and delivered the Matthew Rhodes is a Board member program Sustainable Resource concept of the circular economy via the of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Management. £10 million Biffaward Mass Balance Local Enterprise Partnership and Chair Programme from 1997 to 2008. His career of Energy Capital in the West Midlands. 6. Andreas Hornung has covered industrial gases, ‘just in time’ He’s worked in the energy industry for parcels logistics, pallet hiring and welding over 20 years, initially with international Professor Andreas Hornung (CEng products distribution with a focus on companies including RWE and BP. Prior FIChemE FRSC) studied at the innovation in handling systems, marketing to this, he worked in manufacturing and TU Darmstadt in Germany, where he and information technology. Now retired, management consultancy. From 2003 to graduated as Engineer in Chemistry in he operates in support roles for advanced 2017, he founded and ran an independent 1991, before doing his PhD at the TU thermal conversion technology companies engineering and building physics Kaiserslautern in Germany. From 2000 as well as pro bono work for environmental consultancy specialising in low-carbon to 2002, Andreas worked for companies NGOs, chartered bodies and a social innovation, developing and delivering in Austria and Italy developing first co-operative not for profit. collaborative projects at the leading prototypes. Such units have been used edge of the energy system transition. from 2002 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Peter qualified as an Industrial Technology, where he worked until 2007 Economist from Nottingham University as head of the pyrolysis and gas treatment in 1969, holds an Honorary Degree from division. In 2007, he took over the chair the University of Southampton and is a in Chemical Engineering and Applied Fellow of CIM, CIWEM, CIWM , CILT. He Chemistry at Aston University in was awarded an OBE for services to the Birmingham. In 2008, he founded the environment in 2007. European Bioenergy Research Institute EBRI, of which he was leading as Director Peter chaired a WRAP-sponsored Gas to until the end of 2013. In the beginning of Grid study Group and the groundbreaking 2013, he became the director of the West Midlands study into co-location of Institute branch Sulzbach-Rosenberg of renewable energy and recovery processes Fraunhofer UMSICHT. Andreas is a in 2009. He has also Chaired a Multi member of the board of the International Academy Trust. Biochar Initiative IBI and holds a Contract Professorship at the University of Bologna. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 65

10. Adrian Smith 11. Patricia Thornley

Adrian joined Nottinghamshire County Professor Patricia Thornley is director Council in 2016 as Corporate Director of of the Energy and Bioproducts Research Place and became the County Council’s Institute at Aston University. She is a Deputy Chief Executive in January 2019. chartered physicist with over 25 years’ experience working on bioenergy energy Adrian leads many of the Council’s most projects in industry and academia. She visible frontline services used by their has been director of the UK’s Supergen 800,000 residents and 31,000 businesses Bioenergy Hub since 2012, which is including highways, transport, waste and funded by EPSRC and BBSRC to bring recycling as well as the catering, cleaning together academia, industry and other and landscaping services that the Council stakeholders to focus on sustainable provides to many local schools. The bioenergy development. Her main research Department also provides important interests are in whole systems analysis of place-based services such as planning bioenergy, greenhouse gas balances and and economic development and feedstock sustainability. community services such as trading standards, community safety and support She has particular interests in combustion, for the voluntary and community sector. gasification and synthesis of alternative fuel vectors from renewable resources and in A strong Place Department will help evaluating the sustainability of such sustain what local residents value about low-carbon alternatives and has worked Nottinghamshire, whilst ensuring the on several commercial biomass and County Council achieves its ambition for waste plants. inclusive growth and prosperity. There are many significant opportunities for growth in the county, not least their important role in the Midlands Engine. Adrian has a key role for Nottinghamshire in the Midlands Engine Development Corporation bringing forward the plans for HS2 and the ambitious developments at Toton, East Midlands Airport and the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station. These opportunities will bring new jobs, better housing, more connectivity and more prosperity to the county’s residents and businesses, but only if there is a Place Department with the right capacity and resources, aligned to the county’s vision.

5 6 7 8

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COMMISSIONERS 12. Helen Turner 13. Stuart Wagland

In 2015, Dr Helen Turner was appointed Dr Wagland is a Senior Lecturer in Energy Director of the Midlands Innovation group, and Environmental Chemistry and the which includes the universities of Aston, Deputy Director of Research in the Birmingham, Cranfield, Keele, Leicester, School of Water, Energy and Environment Loughborough, Nottingham and Warwick. at Cranfield University. He has expertise in the properties of solid waste materials, She has significant experience of the recovery of resources, the energy managing strategic collaborations having potential of UK waste streams and spent the last seven years as Director of enhanced landfill mining. His expertise the Midlands Energy Consortium, where spans waste and fuel characterisation most recently, Dr Turner played a key techniques, waste treatment technologies role in the successful £60 million bid to and energy recovery processes (including establish the Midlands Energy Research anaerobic digestion, incineration, Accelerator. gasification and pyrolysis). Dr Wagland’s work on UK-wide assessment of waste Prior to working in the Midlands, Dr Turner contributed to substantial government spent time working at the University of investment in a demonstrator advanced Sheffield managing a major research thermal treatment facility aimed at collaboration and their portfolio of accelerating the development of the UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. Dr capability in advanced thermal conversion. Turner also spent time working for the Royal Society of Chemistry in academic He has over ten years’ experience in the publishing. A materials scientist by waste sector. Current projects include background, Dr Turner has a degree those funded by EU Horizon 2020, and PhD in Materials Science from Innovate UK, the Engineering and Physical the University of Leeds. Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and private waste companies. Dr Wagland’s research applies the concept of waste characterisation to develop town-scale advanced thermal treatment of wastes. This work extends to developing countries and is included in a recent Innovate UK project to derive liquid fuels from the pyrolysis of wastes. Dr Wagland is currently working to develop real-time image analysis techniques to be applied to mixed wastes to assess fuel properties and to optimise energy from waste processes. Combining expertise in waste chemistry, characterisation techniques and conversion processes, Dr Wagland is also working on critical resource recovery from enhanced landfill mining. Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 67

POLICY COMMISSION MANAGER EDITOR 14. Emily Prestwood 15. David Strahan

Dr Emily Prestwood is responsible for David Strahan has been a professional developing Birmingham Energy Institute, writer for over 30 years. He learned his working with academics, researchers, trade through the exacting discipline of students and external stakeholders to writing for television, first as a reporter build the profile of energy research at the for Thames TV, and then as a business University and develop partnerships to correspondent and producer-director support and shape the regional transition at the BBC. For ten years he made to a zero-carbon energy system. Emily investigative documentaries for The has nearly ten years’ experience in Money Programme and Horizon until multi-stakeholder, collaborative UK and leaving to write The Last Oil Shock (John European energy research and project Murray Ltd, 2007). Since then he has management. She has previously worked worked as a writer and editor specialising at the University of the West of England in clean energy, including journalism for (UWE), Loughborough University and the Bloomberg New Energy Finance and University of Manchester on research New Scientist, and commercial reports projects on energy, carbon and air quality for clients such as Ricardo, the Energy management in cities, low- and zero- Systems Catapult and the University of carbon energy scenarios, civic Birmingham Energy Institute. He also engagement and policy development. For teaches clear writing for science, her PhD, she modelled historical changes business and journalism, and provides in energy-related CO2 emissions of the a REF consultancy service for universities. UK residential sector to examine the www.writefirstdraft.co.uk relationship with policy, technology, socio-economic and structural change. Before moving into energy research, Emily worked as a Forensic Examiner for eight years.

12 13 14 15 68 Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy

REFERENCES

1 Great Britain plc, the environmental balance sheet, 20 Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England, tonnes respectively. The target for recycling and Biffa, October 1997 Defra, 2018, https://assets.publishing.service. composting of municipal waste is 65% and C&I gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ waste is 68%. This leaves 28% of municipal 2 AWMData2010Synopsis.ppt attachment_data/file/765914/resources-waste- (household) waste and 25% of C&I waste for EfW 3 www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-becomes-first- strategy-dec-2018.pdf - (0.28 x 27.3 m tonnes) + (0.25 x 41.1 m tonnes) major-economy-to-pass-net-zero-emissions-law 21 = 17.9 million tonnes. Rounded up to 18 million www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2020/03/ tonnes. Current capacity is 11.5 million tonnes so 4 how-a-circular-economy-could-save-the-world- Ugly Duckling of Clean Energy Has Chance to extra capacity needed is 6.5 million tonnes. Make Splash, Angus McCrone, BNEF, 29 June feature/ 31 2018, https://about.bnef.com/blog/mccrone-ugly- 22 UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published Greenhouse gas emission factors for recycling of duckling-clean-energy-chance-make-splash/ 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ source-segregated waste materials, David A.Turner published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- 5 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ et al, Centre for Environmental Sciences, University statistics-2018/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ of Southampton, www.sciencedirect.com/science/ 32 data/file/871802/Budget_2020_Print.pdf article/pii/S0921344915301245 UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published 23 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ 6 https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular- Greenhouse gas emission factors for recycling of published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- economy/ source-segregated waste materials, David A.Turner statistics-2018/ 7 et al, Centre for Environmental Sciences, University www.gov.uk/government/publications/resources- 33 of Southampton, www.sciencedirect.com/science/ Waste-to-energy sustainability roadmap, towards and-waste-strategy-for-england article/pii/S0921344915301245 2035, CEWEP, www.cewep.eu/wp-content/ 8 uploads/2019/10/CEWEP-Paul-De-Bruycker- www.wrap.org.uk/plasticsprogress?utm_ 24 WRAP Market Knowledge Portal, Roadmap-Launch-24th-September-2019.pdf source=press_release&utm_ www.wrap.org.uk/content/plastic medium=member&utm_campaign=plastics_ 34 Interview with Soren Knudsen, CEO of ARC, 25 Critical review on life cycle assessment of progress 23 January 2020 9 conventional and innovative waste-to-energy www.unilever.co.uk/news/press-releases/2019/ 35 technologies, Felix Mayer, Ramchandra Bhandari, www.cewep.eu/avr-duiven-ccu/ unilever-announces-ambitious-new-commitments- Stefan Gath, Science of the Total Environment 672 36 for-a-waste-free-world.html UK Statistics on Waste, 7 March 2019, Defra, (2019) 708-721. 10 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49923460 26 For an explanation of goal and scope definition government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ 11 www.craghoppers.com/community/what-are- and inventory analysis under ISO14041, see data/file/784263/UK_Statistics_on_Waste_ craghoppers-fleeces-made-of/ Biorefineries and Chemical Processes: Design, statistical_notice_March_2019_rev_FINAL.pdf Integration and Sustainability Analysis, Jhuma 37 12 UK Statistics on Waste, 7 March 2019, Defra, https://friendsoftheearth.uk/plastics/microfibres- Sadhukhan, Kok Siew Ng, Elias Martinez https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ plastic-in-our-clothes Hernandez, Wiley, 2014, www.wiley.com/en-gb/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ 13 https://phys.org/news/2019-09-microplastics- 27 Energy for the Circular Economy: an data/file/784263/UK_Statistics_on_Waste_ stunt-growth-worms.html overview of Energy from Waste in the UK, statistical_notice_March_2019_rev_FINAL.pdf 14 ESA, 2018, www.esauk.org/application/ www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular- 38 National municipal commercial waste composition, files/7715/3589/6450/20180606_Energy_for_ economy/concept England 2017, WRAP, prepared by Eunomia the_circular_economy_an_overview_of_EfW_in_ 15 Research & Consulting Ltd, https://wrap.org. www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/ the_UK.pdf; www.biffa.co.uk/media-centre/news/ uk/sites/files/wrap/National%20municipal%20 downloads/publications/Ellen-MacArthur- financial-close-achieved-on-newhurst-energy-from- commercial%20waste%20composition_%20 Foundation-Towards-the-Circular-Economy- waste-facility vol.1.pdf England%202017.pdf 28 www.gov.uk/government/news/end-of-coal-power- 39 16 Digest of Waste and Resource Statistics 2018, Great Britain PLC, Biffa, 1997. to-be-brought-forward-in-drive-towards-net-zero Defra, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/digest-of- 17 Swedish waste management 2018, Avfall Sverige, 29 Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy waste-and-resource-statistics-2018-edition www.avfallsverige.se/fileadmin/user_upload/ plants (CEWEP), www.cewep.eu/cewep-capacity- 40 Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England, Publikationer/Avfallshantering_2018_EN.pdf calculations/ Defra, 2018, https://assets.publishing.service. 18 Completing the circle, 2018, Green Alliance, 30 Our calculation follows CEWEP’s approach. This gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ www.green-alliance.org.uk/resources/Completing_ assumes 1) no growth in waste arisings because attachment_data/file/765914/resources-waste- the_circle.pdf population growth is offset by waste prevention strategy-dec-2018.pdf

19 measures, and 2) landfill is reduced to 7%. We Completing the circle, 2018, Green Alliance, 41 UK Statistics on Waste, 7 March 2019, Defra, used date from UK Statistics on Waste (Defra, www.green-alliance.org.uk/resources/Completing_ https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ op cit). In 2016, total UK Household and C&I the_circle.pdf government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_ waste were 27.3 million tonnes and 41.1 million data/file/784263/UK_Statistics_on_Waste_ statistical_notice_March_2019_rev_FINAL.pdf Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 69

42 Digest of Waste and Resource Statistics 2018, 55 UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published 71 UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published Defra, www.gov.uk/government/statistics/digest-of- 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ waste-and-resource-statistics-2018-edition published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- statistics-2018/ statistics-2018/ 43 UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ 56 www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/ff/landfill.xls 72 www.gov.uk/government/news/end-of-coal-power- published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- to-be-brought-forward-in-drive-towards-net-zero 57 www.redindustries.co.uk/landfill-tax-increase-2020/ statistics-2018/ 73 58 Waste markets study, Eunomia, 2019, www.gov. 44 The economics of change in the resources UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published scot/publications/waste-markets-study-full-report/ and waste sector, Suez, 2019, www.suez. 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ co.uk/-/media/suez-uk/files/publication/suez- 74 UK Energy from Waste Statistics 2018, published published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- economicsofchange-2019941.pdf 2019, Tolvik Consulting, www.tolvik.com/ statistics-2018/ 59 published-reports/view/uk-energy-from-waste- 45 National Waste Packaging Database, Environment Household recycling in the UK, CBP 7285, 12 statistics-2018/ On page 18, Figure 42 shows that Agency, https://npwd.environment-agency.gov. September 2018, House of Commons Library, for every tonne of waste incinerated the UK industry uk/Public/PublicSummaryData.aspx ; https:// www.legco.gov.hk/general/english/library/stay_ produces 0.54MWh of electricity and 0.1MWh of npwd.environment-agency.gov.uk/FileDownload. informed_overseas_policy_updates/household_ heat. That means the average UK incinerator takes ashx?FileId=69b53945-49bd-4cf2-b16c- recycling.pdf (1 / 0.64) 1.56 tonnes of waste to produce 1MWh 5d69fbb83bbd 46 of electricity. Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England, 60 www.thetimes.co.uk/article/valuable-metals-go- 75 Defra, 2018, https://assets.publishing.service. 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87 Accelerating circular supply chains for plastics, 106 Tolvik Consulting, Commission evidence session Closed Loop Partners, www.closedlooppartners. 16 October 2019. com/research/advancing-circular-systems-for- 107 AWMData2010Synopsis.ppt plastics/ 108 88 https://binngroup.co.uk/2019/04/11/an-update- file:///C:/Users/David%20Stahan2/AppData/ on-project-beacon-2/ Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content. Outlook/6ZLXCX0J/RTNestaMirovafundingMar20. 109 www.uniper.energy/emerge html 110 www.uniper.energy/news/uniper-surpasses-2019- 89 https://recyclingtechnologies.co.uk/what-we-do/ financial-targets-and-aims-for-climate-neutral- project-lodestar/ power-generation-in-europe-by-2035/ 90 Accelerating circular supply chains for plastics, Closed Loop Partners, https://www. closedlooppartners.com/research/advancing- circular-systems-for-plastics/ 91 https://recyclingtechnologies.co.uk/what-we-do/ project-lodestar/ 92 https://recyclingtechnologies.co.uk/what-we-do/ project-lodestar/ 93 www.tosynfuel.eu 96 www.waste2tricity.com/projects/ 95 www.eti.co.uk/programmes/bioenergy/energy-from- waste 96 www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/09/ holland-agriculture-sustainable-farming/ 97 www.wastematters.eu/news-from-europe/news- from-europe/sustainable-route-for-co2-capture- and-reuse.html 98 Interview with Michiel Timmerije, Director Energy and Residues, AVR, 7 February 2020. 99 www.wastematters.eu/news-from-europe/news- from-europe/sustainable-route-for-co2-capture- and-reuse.html 100 www.portofrotterdam.com/en/news-and-press- releases/ccs-project-porthos-a-step-closer 101 www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/meet- europes-two-most-exciting-co2-storage-projects/ 102 https://sandbag.org.uk/carbon-price-viewer/ 103 UK APCr 382,470 tonnes 2018 (Tolvik, op cit).

Carbon8 process captures up to 50kgCO2 per tonne of APCr (Carbon8). UK aggregates for concrete blocks 43 million tonnes 104 http://destinationinnovation.economist.com/part-1/ 105 www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/07/ coal-power-station-cottam-to-close-after-half-a- century Energy From Waste and the Circular Economy 71 www.birmingham.ac.uk B15 2TT,United Kingdom Edgbaston, Birmingham, Designed andprinted by

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