Carbon8 Aggregates Recycling Air Pollution Control Residues : 37MW Lakeside Waste to Energy Plant Achieves Zero Waste to Landfill

Carbon8 waste to energy recycling
© Carbon8

The Lakeside Energy from Waste facility at Colnbrook in Berkshire, has achieve waste to landfill over an 18 month period following an agreement with Carbon8 Aggregates.

According to Carbon8 it is thought to be the first time in the UK that a waste to energy plant has met a 100% diversion from landfill target and underlines the plant’s strong environmental credentials, married with the use of latest technology.

Since 1 September 2015, the Lakeside facility - a joint venture between Grundon Waste Management and Viridor - has been recycling 100% of its Air Pollution Control residues (APCr).

Carbon8 Aggregates explained that it uses a patented process known as Accelerated Carbonation Technology (ACT) to transform the APCr into a high quality lightweight aggregate called C8Aggregate (C8Agg).

The APCr is collected by specialist tankers and transported to a Carbon8 Aggregates’ facility in Suffolk or Avonmouth, where it is converted into a carbon negative aggregate used in building blocks, precast and ready mixed concrete and screeds.

Because the ACT process permanently captures more carbon dioxide (CO2) than is generated during its manufacture, the manufacturer claimed that C8Agg is the world’s first truly carbon-negative aggregate.

“Lakeside was the first EfW facility to fully adopt the new technology and, as a result of its forward-thinking approach, we believe it is now the first in the country to divert all its waste away from landfill,” commented Stephen Roscoe, Carbon8’s technical director.

“What we want to see now is more commercial operators and local authorities following Lakeside’s lead and demanding their EfW facilities adopt similar practices and stop sending APCr to landfill when there is a much more environmentally-friendly alternative,” he added

Completing the 100% diversion from landfill, Lakeside has been sending its Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) for reprocessing since 2010, where any metals are segregated for recycling and the remaining material is recycled for use in road-building and construction projects.

The Lakeside waste to energy facility currently processes up to 450,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste a year from both local businesses and local authorities, including Slough, Central Berkshire, Wiltshire and the West London Waste Authority. In doing so, it generates 37MW of power - enough to provide electricity to every household in Slough.

“Not only is zero waste to landfill a significant milestone for our own operation, it also helps our customers to meet their own environmental targets and we know they see this as a real benefit,” concluded Danny Coulston, Lakeside operations director.

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