BCB PROPOSES £18M SCHEME TO TURN WASTE INTO POWER.

20 August 2007

Waste disposal company BCB Environmental Management is proposing to invest £18m in innovative new technology to turn waste into power at its site on Marston Moor Industrial Estate at Tockwith, near York.

The new Advanced Thermal Treatment plant will be housed in one of the company’s existing 29,000 sq ft unit on the industrial estate. It will use a simple, proven process that combines gasification and oxidation to totally destroy waste, while recovering significant amounts of energy as a by-product.

The energy produced – an estimated 10MW – will be enough to run about 10,000 homes. BCB will use what it needs to run the plant and the surplus will be sold to the National Grid. The electricity generated will count towards the UK’s target for the generation of power from sustainable sources.

The process - based on a tried and tested USA design – mirrors a development in Dumfries, which is due to come on-line in 2008 and is expected to provide the simplest, most cost-effective and reliable system of its kind in the world.

It will also permit the recovery of metals without their contamination by any toxic ash. In addition, residual heat produced during the process could be used to heat residential or industrial developments in Tockwith.

BCB, which has been operating at Tockwith for the past 10 years, currently handles about 18,000 tonnes of hazardous and non-hazardous waste a year. Under the new proposals, hazardous waste would constitute only 25% of the materials handled. The rest would be household rubbish that would previously have been sent to landfill, after the kerbside removal of all recyclable material (about 40 per cent of the total collected).

The Managing Director of BCB, Phil Boardman, commented: “This is an innovative carbon-neutral scheme which will increase employment on the site and benefit the environment by reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. By generating power from sustainable sources, it will also help to reduce the amount of electricity produced from carbon fuels.”

He added that the only residue from the new plant would be inert ash and the process would not produce any toxic emissions.

BCB has initiated a major public consultation process to inform residents of the area about the plans and will give them an opportunity to question the company about the scheme at a public meeting.

Martin Dale, Plaza Consultancy Tel: 01709 325500

Graeme Tolmie, Development Consultant Tel: 07800 659395

Simon Mountford, Simon Mountford Communications Tel: 07836 279685

BCB Environmental Management (“BCB”) is the only company of its kind in the region which operates under an Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) permit, the highest-level of certification. This means that emissions are below guidelines set by the European Union.

Advanced Thermal Treatment of waste is significantly different from and more efficient than incineration as it takes place in the absence of oxygen and at much lower temperatures. In this treatment, waste is heated to produce gas, which is oxidised to produce heat. The heat is used to produce steam, which in turn powers a turbine that generates electricity.