UK Recycling Policy

In the UK, the government’s belief is that recycling is the most environmentally beneficial waste management practice but that it must be economic if resources are to be allo­

cated efficiently. This view is in line with the govern­

m e n t ’s policy of no direct intervention as to preferred methods of waste disposal or financial support for particu­

lar processes. Opportunities for recycling, including re­

source recovery, therefore have government approval but there is as yet little evidence of an outspoken commitment to produce a vigorous recycling industry that takes environ­

mental benefits into account when considering economic fac­

tors. In general, respective decisions are made on a stricly commercial basis.

Pressure from many sources, including industry, environmen­

tal groups and the general public, led the government to set up an interdepartmental committee co-ordinated by the D e ­ partment of Industry (DTI) to promote recycling. Official encouragement is by means of a campaign to increase aware­

ness including a series of "Commitment Conferences" which when completed will have covered glass, plastics, paper and oil. The modest funds of fc 1 50,000 are available for re­

search and for pilot schemes on the basis that industry in its own self interest is involved. The Warren Spring Labora­

tory of the DTI carry out research on recycling and provide technical advice to industry through its Recycling Unit.

4.1.1 Municipal Waste Recycling

The 1984 Parliamentary Report "The Wealth of W a s t e " ^ esti­

mated that in 1983 some 20 m tonnes of waste were generated

in the UK, equivalent to about 11 kg per household per week.

Municipal waste of typical analysis by weight contained, as potentially recyclable materials, about 33% paper, 7.0 metals, 8.0% glass and 1.0% plastics. For 1988, the poten­

tial for resource and energy recovery from urban waste is shown in F ig u r e 6 .

Most WDAs have designated amenity sites where the general public can take unwanted items. At the generally older so- called Class 1 sites, little on-site segregation or separ­

ation takes place, but at Class 2 sites, bottles, other glass objects, paper and card, textiles and plastics are segregated and sold for reclamation. Other opportunities for segregation activities such as bottle banks or the collec­

tion of cans and paper are by no means evenly distributed across the country. Interest in secondary materials has gen­

erally declined since the market price for such materials, when recovered from mixed refuse, barely exceeds their en­

ergy value and current strategies concentrate on recovering the energy potential of the waste before disposing of the residue. The UK inclines to the view that there are landfill benefits in the reduction in volume and hazard of the re­

sidue, offered by this route.

This view is borne out by F ig u r e 6 which shows that the esti­

mated maximum value of municipal waste is t 21.14 per tonne, ignoring the practical difficulties of achieving this figure. The upper limit theoretical energy value (as refuse derived fuel) of a tonne of unsorted municipal waste is fe 14.82. Selling the non-combustible fractions of the waste at their theoretical recycling values, increases the energy value to t 19.98. The conclusion is that although recycling of consumer waste has increased in recent years, segregation at source before contamination on mixing clearly has a key role to play in the future of UK municipal waste management strategies.

As received assay

wt %

Moisture content

wt %

Dry weight per tonne of input

kg

Possible price (merchant) b/tonne (d ry)

Value per tonne o f input

b

Comment

Paper 33 30 231.0 35 8.09 Mixed waste paper grade

P la s tic film 3 25 22.5 100 2.25 Not necessarily as single polymer

Dense p la s tic 3 15 25.5 100 2.55 Not necessarily as single polymer

T e x tile 4 25 30.0 50 1.50 Mixed

Hisc comb 5 25 37.5 20 0.75 Fuel

Hisc non-comb 5 15 42.5 5 0.21 As t ip cover/hard core

Glass 9 10 81.0 25 2.03 Mixed c u lle t

Ferrous 7 15 59.5 15 0.90 Mainly can stock

Non-ferrous 1 10 9.0 200 1.80 Mainly aluminium

P utrescible 20 65 70.0 10 0.70 Compost or s o il cond itio n e r

-10 mm 10 40 60.0 6 0.36

Total 100 33 668.5 21.14 21.14

Source: Barton, J.R., "Mechanical Sorting Technology for Municipal Solid Waste", Harwell Waste Management Symposium, Environmental Safety Centre, Harwell Laboratory, O x ­

fordshire, May, 1988.

4.1.2 Energy Recovery

Waste disposal sites provide a source of energy in the form of landfill gas, a resource which is increasingly exploited.

Britain is second only to the United States in using land­

fill gas and the government currently predicts that the en­

ergy equivalent of 1 m tonnes of coal per annum will be ob-tained from this source in the 1990’s.1 8

Considerable progress has been made in the field of refuse derived fuel (RDF) production and use in the UK. However, compared to some European countries relatively few examples exist of RDF used as a source of energy, or of waste in crude form in mass waste burning incinerators. The Parlia­

mentary R e p o r t ^ stated that there were less than ten energy recovery refuse disposal plants in operation in the UK but that there was potential for more than a hundred. So far, less than 5% of household refuse is used for energy re­

covery .

The first three commercial scale plants producing RDF p e l ­ lets were commissioned in the early 1 9 8 0 ’s and their p r o ­ duction can be considered to be an operationally reliable technology. However, since RDF has about half the calorific value of coal, industrial customers conurbations are likely to alter the balance of the economic equation.

Refuse incineration units with energy recovery built in the UK in the mid 1 9 7 0 's are now considered to be performing in a cost effective manner. There is confidence now that a modern energy recovery incinerator is an environmentally ac­

ceptable option for municipal waste disposal. Combustion trials are also under way at some municipal incinerators which do not yet have energy recovery, aimed at proving that waste can be burnt without causing environmental damage from polluting emissions. 1 9