Veolia's New SRF Facility to Help Hampshire to 94% Landfill Diversion

23 November 2012 Waste and recycling company Veolia Environmental Services' new Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) facility near Fareham is to help Hampshire achieve a 94% diversion rate from landfill for municipal household waste - the highest ever achieved by a whole county area in the UK. The company - part of Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) - said that this represents a significant step towards Project Integra's aim of achieving zero landfill for domestic household waste. Project Integra is a partnership between Hampshire County Council, the two Unitary Authorities of Southampton and Portsmouth, the 11 District Councils and Veolia According to the company the SRF facility, located in Warren Farm, will transform the county's bulky waste into a fuel in a two year trial project which is expected to add a further 4% to the partnership's recycling and recovery rate. The facility will handle bulky materials from the Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) network that currently go to landfill, as well as some commercial waste, which can now be processed to recover extra recycling. Veolia said that the remainder will be sent for recovery - similar to the collected black bin rubbish across the county that goes for energy recovery at one of the three state-of-the-art waste to energy plants. The SRF facility will handle bulky waste which is too large for kerbside collections or to be delivered to the waste to energy plants, where it will be shredded twice with metals being recycled in between. A combination of mechanical equipment including a trommel, belt magnet, air separator and optical sort is then used to recover any other materials for recycling, such as metals. The company said that the new facility will produce a range of products suitable for recycling and recovery. "At the moment this is a trial but we believe this will help lead Hampshire closer to zero waste to landfill," commented Estelle Brachlianoff, chief executive officer for Veolia Environmental Services (UK). The new facility is expected to help Hampshire, which has a recycling rate abover 37% send just 6% of its waste to landfill, with the remaining 53% of non-recyclable waste being sent to three waste to energy plants. Read More Separate Food Waste Collections Help Wales to 53% Recycling Rate Separate food waste collections enabled Welsh local authorities to recycle 53% of all the waste collected in the first quarter of 2012/13 - a 2% rise over the same period last year. SRF - A Class of its Own? Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) is still classified as a waste material, not a product, despite the fact it is manufactured to a quality specification and is a resource from which energy can be recovered. Marcus Brew, UNTHA UK's alternative fuels expert, considers the parameters within which SRF must be manufactured and discusses the arguments for and against SRF being reclassified as a product or fuel? Contract for Veolia's Planned 11 MW Waste to Energy & Recycling Plant in Leeds Veolia has signed A 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract to treat residual municipal waste at its proposed recycling and waste to energy facility in Leeds. Free Magazine Subscription Free Email Newsletter