8 Energy recovery
Energy from waste technologies
85. The EU places energy efficient incineration
within the energy recovery stage of the waste hierarchy rather
than in the disposal tier at the bottom of the waste hierarchy.[137]
In 2008-09, 12.2% of England's municipal waste was incinerated
with energy recovery.[138]
The Government has set no definitive targets for increasing
the amount of energy recovered from waste. It has only "aspirations"
to increase the level to 25% of all waste being used for energy
recovery by 2020,[139]
commensurate with reaching the current recycling and composting
targets.[140]
86. Many organisations supported greater use
of energy from waste technology. The EA supported the recovery
of energy from waste as part of the waste management and disposal
hierarchy where this "does not undermine opportunities to
re-use and recover resources".[141]
87. There are a range of energy from waste technologies
currently being exploited or developed (see annex). It is Government
policy not to favour any specific technology—with the exception
of anaerobic digestion (AD) as the preferred
technology for treating food waste.[142]
Many witnesses support this approach, including
CIWM who considered that councils are best placed to identify
the scale and type of technology that best suits their need. Nevertheless
the Government's financial support framework for renewable energy,
using differentially banded Renewables Obligation Certificates
(ROCs),[143] provides
particular incentives for certain technologies such as advanced
gasification, advanced pyrolysis and AD.[144]
88. The preference for using AD to treat food
waste is not universally supported by witnesses. London Councils
was concerned over its use for urban municipal waste since the
practicalities of separate food collection in cities could mean
that "proven technologies such as incineration, particularly
with the use of Combined Heat and Power" could be a more
viable solution.[145]
89. Regardless of technology used, to
achieve maximum efficiencies waste heat must be captured and utilised,
for example for district heating. There are concerns that new
plant, such as that at Lakeside near Heathrow, are being constructed
without provision for use of waste heat, despite two thirds of
the energy produced by such plant being converted to heat.[146]
We heard from Viridor representatives during our visit to the
Beddington Farmlands site in October 2008 that the company was
keen to maximise use of waste heat but this had not always happened
in practice and there would be problems in fitting infrastructure
retrospectively. The Environment Agency said it had a policy that
required heat to be recovered by all municipal waste incinerators,[147]
and would not issue a permit for a plant "without any energy
recovery".[148]
90. To ensure that only energy
efficient methods of generating energy from waste are adopted,
the Government should require planning applications for such plant
to demonstrate how heat produced will be captured and used.
137 Council Directive 2008/12/EC, Annex II B lists
activities defined as "recovery" as opposed to "disposal".
The "recovery" category includes use of waste as a fuel
or other means to generate energy. To qualify under Annex II B,
plant must meet energy efficiency criteria as set out in a formula.
Plant permitted from December 2008 must operate at an efficiency
of 0.65 or higher, with existing plant required to reach 0.6 under
the formula. Back
138
Defra, Municipal Waste Management Statistics for England, 2008-09,
5 November 2009. Back
139
Daniel Instone, Defra, Waste Strategy 1.5 years on, Waste
Management Finance Forum, 22 January 2009. Back
140
Energy from waste factsheet, Defra web pages. Back
141
Ev 4 Back
142
Energy from waste factsheet, Defra web pages. Back
143
The Renewables Obligation (RO) requires electricity suppliers
to source a stated and annually increasing proportion of their
electricity from renewable energy generation or to pay a buy-out
price for not doing so. Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs)
are issued by the gas and electricity market regulator, Ofgem,
to generators for each MWh of renewable energy generated. Back
144
From April 2009 advanced gasification, advanced pyrolysis and
anaerobic digestion qualify for two ROCs per MWh, energy from
waste, standard pyrolysis and gasification remain on one ROC and
landfill gas qualifies for a quarter ROC per MWh. Back
145
Ev 216 Back
146
Q 55 Back
147
Q 57 Back
148
Ev 17 Back
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