Landfill Diversion, Resource recovery and Renewable Energy

Aeternum are developing a number of Energy Parks across the UK.  Aeternum's facilities will enable Local Authority's and commercial or industrial waste producers to meet their obligations under a range of waste regulations. 

Aeternum is not aligned to any particular technology and therefore selects partners who can provide solutions which meet local needs and the main objectives of current legislation.  

UK Waste Recycling: Policy-Driven Growth

Growth in the application of advanced waste treatment technologies are driven by a number of factors: 

1. The UK is obliged to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and must comply with the EU Landfill Directive requirements (1999/31/EC) enacted in 2007. The EU landfill directive has caused the UK government to set the UK Waste Strategy which targets reducing the total tonnage of waste going to landfill in 1995 by 35% before 2020. 
2. In addition the number of active landfill sites has reduced from 3000 to 600 over the last 15 years. Planning consents are incredibly difficult to obtain.
3. Landfill tax increased from £24 per/tonne in 2007 to £80 per/tonne in 2014 and government have announced will go higher.  In addition Local Authorities have an additional penalty of £150 per/tonne for exceeding their landfill quotas.
4. There is an urgent need in the UK to improve energy security as well as to increase the contribution from renewable energy. The UK is obliged to meet targets set out by the EU Renewable Energy Directive enacted in December 2008. 

 

The European Union (EU) Landfill Directive has set member nations limits for the amount of biodegradable municipal solid waste to be landfilled by certain key dates (2010, 2013 and 2020). These national targets are transposed into landfill limits for individual Local Authorities. Failure to achieve these targets results in fines of up to £150 per tonne. 

 

Landfill tax is levied by the UK Government on Local Authorities and private sector waste producers per tonne of waste deposited. Landfill tax was introduced in 1996 at £7 per tonne and has now reached a level of £40 per tonne with effect from April 2009. In April 2009 the Government announced a continuation of the £8 per annum Landfill Tax Escalator until April 2013, when it will reach £72 per tonne. Further ongoing increases are expected. 

UK landfill disposal continues to rise and with the addition of the landfill tax are now comparable to other means of waste treatment and disposal, as they head towards £100 per tonne. 

The United Kingdom still produces more waste per head of population than many of its European neighbours, with an average of 592kg (1,306lb), above the EU average of 577kg, (1,274lb). 

It also lags behind in the amount of waste recycled, with a UK average figure of 18% based on these figures, well below the EU average of 36.4%. 

The Netherlands leads the way in Europe with a national recycling average of 64.4%, more than double the level achieved in England. Greece is the worst offender on landfill, dumping 90% of its municipal waste, with Portugal and the UK dumping about three-quarters of their waste.