A ‘cleaner’ way to treat waste
A TEES Valley waste management company is due to launch a pilot project on Teesside that it claims will close the energy loop for firms across the country.
UK Resource Management (UKRM) has spent £2.5m over the past two years in doubling the size of its South Bank plant and increasing the workforce from 20 to 38 staff, based on a succession of innovative recycling solutions for industry.
It recently invested in two industrial-sized second-hand washing machines to provide a cost-effective, green solution to the waste management problem created for hundreds of engineering and manufacturing companies by legislation banning oily rags and personal protective equipment going into landfill.
The machines have been fully refurbished and linked into the hazardous waste treatment process established by UKRM at its 2.5 acre site.
The machines will handle around one tonne per hour of contaminated industrial material.
After washing, items that cannot be recovered and re-used are processed into feedstock for waste-to-energy plants. The oil is processed through the company’s liquid hazardous waste treatment plant and sold for re-use in power generation so virtually nothing ends up in landfill.
Now it is planning to offer firms a green energy package by returning their treated industrial waste combined with biomass in a ready-made feedstock for small-scale power plants being built on industrial estates.
The plans, which are thought to be well advanced, would “close the loop” for firms, said a spokesman.
“Their waste is taken away, combined with specific crops and returned to the company. It will also be able to supply the burners for the energy plants - it’s a complete package,” he added.
UKRM’s commercial director, Phil Rodgers, said: “Our two washing machines are at the heart of a process that is meeting the needs of old and new customers all over the UK.
“As part of our investment programme, we re-organised our site to give us the flexibility to establish a range of highly efficient waste treatment processes that enable us to offer our customers very competitive rates and recover and re-use as much of the treated waste as possible.”
