UK – reducing biodegradable waste: Government announces bidders for £30m research programme

Seven preferred bidders have been named by the UK Government‘‘s Environment Minister Elliot Morley in the first round of a programme which aims to fund pilot schemes of cutting-edge waste technologies to treat and divert biodegradable municipal waste (BMW), such as kitchen and garden waste, away from landfill.



The pilot schemes, which will be run in partnership with local authorities and industry, will help to establish the technical and commercial viability of emerging and near-market waste technologies, providing more confidence for industry and local authorities on the economic and environmental feasibility of these ‘‘new‘‘ technologies.



The New Technologies Demonstrator Programme (NTDP) is one of two funding programmes which have been designed to help encourage the take up of new technologies in the treatment and diversion of BMW. In total, over £30 million funding will be delivered through the programme to encourage innovation in waste management technology to reduce and divert biological municipal waste.



The diversion of BMW from landfill is a key objective under the Landfill Directive. One tonne of biodegradable waste produces between 200 and 400m3 of landfill gas. Landfills released 25% of the UK‘‘s methane emissions in 2001, about 2% of UK total greenhouse gas emissions.



Preferred bids in this first round span a range of technologies including anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, mechanical biological treatment (MBT), pyrolysis, gasification, and in-vessel composting. They are:

WasteGen UK Ltd – pyrolysis and/or gasification

Devonshire County Council – pyrolysis and/or gasification

Premier Waste Management Ltd – MBT/in-vessel composting

Greenfinch Ltd – anaerobic digestion

Golder Associates – MBT/anaerobic digestion

ADAS Consulting – MBT/in-vessel composting

Fairport – material separation/complex material recycling facility/gasification

Five operational demonstration plants are planned for the end of 2005, with a further five by the end of 2006. All of the pilots will be regulated to strict environmental standards and are likely to run over two years. Ultimately, the facilities will be made available to local authorities and industry to help inform waste management decision making.



The New Technologies Programme is part of Defra‘‘s Waste Implementation Programme (WIP) launched in May this year to deliver the work outlined in the Government‘‘s response to the Government‘‘s Strategy Unit report ‘‘Waste Not, Want Not‘‘. The WIP has eight work streams, five to be delivered by Defra and three by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme).



The New Technologies work covers four key areas, including the two funding programmes announced in January 2004. Allocated around £2m, the Waste Research & Innovation Programme will address the current lack of funding for R&D projects into new technologies to deal with BMW. On a much larger scale, the Demonstrator Programme will provide around. £30m to help to establish new waste treatment technologies that require pilot plants to demonstrate their viability. It is designed to reduce the perceived risk of implementing new technologies that are unproven in the UK and provide accurate technical and economic data.



The other two work streams are a Data Centre that will bring together current data and research on new and emerging technologies, as well as the results of the R&D and Demonstrator projects selected for funding, and the Support Programme to disseminate the results to all the relevant stakeholders, particularly local authorities.

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