Towering presence in recycling

Jun 12 2007 By James Barton, The Journal

Recycling rubbish, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and reducing the use of landfill sites has become a priority in a more environmentally-conscious world. James Barton looks at a new bio-processing plant successfully addressing all three of these issues.

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The Premier Advanced Recycling Centre (Parc) is an integrated system which uses a proven rapid bio-processing technology to process household waste.

Developed by Aykley Heads company Premier Waste Management and Sheffield's CiViC Environmental Systems, it recycles metals, glass, plastic and aerobically-digests biodegradable materials into a compost product which is used to manufacture high quality topsoil.

A five-year operational trial and research conducted in association with Durham University has shown the Parc system releases substantially less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than either of the two current methods of waste disposal - incineration (or Energy from Waste) and landfill - over both the short and long-term.

It has also recycled, composted and diverted from landfill more than 70% of the 37,000 tonnes of waste processed annually by Premier's two established Parc towers, at its Aykley Heads site, a figure which would go a significant distance towards meeting local authorities increasingly demanding recycling and waste management performance targets.

A new, larger Parc tower has been commissioned and launched at Premier's Thornley site in County Durham taking the site's annual processing capacity up to 62,000 tonnes of household waste.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) New Technologies Programme aims to make a contribution to the planned EU's huge reduction of waste going to landfill by removing barriers to the development and application of appropriate new technologies.

Established in 2003, the £30m programme has the goal of proving the economic, social and environmental viability of waste treatment technologies.

Dave Brooks, head of new technologies at Defra's Waste Implementation Programme, says: "The Parc system is a method of addressing the ever-more pressing task of diverting the maximum amount of waste possible away from landfill, and its development has progressed exactly on schedule.

"It provides a compact option for local authorities with waste management facilities located close to areas of population, and is an excellent example of how new technologies can be utilised to tackle environmental issues."

Dr Les Grant, chief executive of Premier Waste Management, adds: "Local authorities have a key contribution to make in ensuring they minimise the carbon footprint of their waste management activities, and thus meet their waste and recycling performance targets and responsibilities with maximum efficiency."

Landfill operations and incineration generate significant amounts of greenhouse gases, whereas the Parc system allows for the capture of around 40% of the carbon in waste.

Dr Grant says: "This massively reduces emissions and diverts over 70% of the waste from landfill, and the remaining residue that does go to landfill is largely inert."

The topsoil product manufactured from the composted waste output of the Parc process has the same specification and characteristics of an ordinary soil and is used in brownfield remediation projects, such as colliery or landfill restoration, on which short-rotation coppicing plantations or forestry can be grown.

Dr Grant says: "Parc is a highly flexible system capable of processing both source segregated and unsegregated waste streams.

"We have guaranteed markets for its various outputs which we believe will expand as the uses of compost derived products become clearer and the regulatory environment catches up with these new technologies.

"We truly believe that this is a landmark in the development of environmentally-efficient waste management processes, and that local authorities around the UK stand to benefit greatly from investigating its implementation."

* Visit www.recyclingreinvented.com