Understand How Energy-from-Waste Works

Energy-from-Waste (EfW), or Waste-to-Energy (WTE) is a process that takes post-recycled municipal solid waste – including plain old household rubbish – and burns it at a high temperature to reduce its weight and volume, and to produce heat and/or electricity.

The process

The waste is delivered to the plant and dropped into a bunker before being loaded onto a moving grate. As the waste moves through the furnace on the grate, temperatures reach over 850 degrees C, removing any combustible material. At the end of the main process, the waste is turned into mainly carbon dioxide, water and ash - roughly 20-30 percent of the original input. The ash is then passed through magnets to extract any metals with the remainder often used for construction.

The benefits

Using EfW technology will mean there will be:

• Less reliance upon landfill: this will preserve land and natural resources. EfW also helps to meet targets set in the Landfill Directive. EfW is a residual treatment (material that is not recycled or composted) and is not intended to replace recycling and composting schemes.
• Less dependence on imported fuels: almost half of the UK’s energy supply in 2008 was imported. For every tonne of waste processed in an EfW facility, we avoid the need to import over one barrel of oil or mine one third of a tonne of coal.
• Net Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction: for every tonne of waste processed in an EfW facility, over 460kg of GHG is avoided.
• A sustainable source of renewable energy that can operate all year round: solar panels and wind turbines rely on certain weather conditions to operate, but EfW plants can run 24/7 throughout the year, producing energy classified as largely renewable.