Mercia Waste Management has a long history with recycling in Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Investment in household waste sites has resulted in a recycling rate of 72% from these facilities.
Kerbside recycling rates have also improved greatly since the schemes began. However, total waste arisings are projected to increase and there will always be some waste that cannot be recycled.
After reducing our waste, recycling and composting, the waste hierarchy identifies energy recovery as the next step to sustainable waste management. Other countries with high levels of recycling such as Germany and The Netherlands also have a significant number of energy-from-waste facilities and the positive relationship between recycling and Energy from Waste is well established.
Municipal Waste 2007 |
% recycled |
% landfilled |
% incinerated |
Germany |
64 |
1 |
35 |
Netherlands |
60 |
3 |
38 |
UK |
34 |
57 |
9 |
The proposals for Worcestershire and Herefordshire have been modelled to enable 50% of total municipal waste to be recycled by 2020. The facility will achieve further diversion from landfill through the extraction of metals, and bottom ash will be reprocessed to produce aggregate replacement – preserving valuable mineral resources.
The EnviRecover facility will contribute to the sustainable waste management plans of Worcestershire and Herefordshire Councils by increasing the recycling rate, recovering energy and reducing the amount of waste being landfilled.