SITA: Ellington, Northumberland
SITA UK is celebrating a "major milestone"
after receiving its first exemption from the Environment Agency to use its
MBT compost as a soil conditioner.
The Agency is allowing SITA to use 1,000 tonnes of material from its mechanical
biological treatment (MBT) plant in Northumberland to restore the former
Sister landfill site in Morpeth.
The announcement gives a seal of approval for the quality of SITA's MBT
residue and paves the way for future exemptions, which are awarded on a
site-by-site basis.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Stephen Wise-Merry, head of organics at SITA
UK, said: "This is the first large-scale exemption for MBT residues
in the UK. We've been demonstrating the soil conditioner is doing a good
job. There is a conception MBT residues are poor quality but we have demonstrated
that our process is successful."
SITA is one of the two companies, along with Viridor Waste Management, bidding
to run MBT plants to treat Greater Manchester's waste (see letsrecycle.com
story).
Process
SITA's MBT process sees black bag waste from Newcastle city council taken
to a 120,000 tonne-a-year capacity resource recovery centre in Byker, Newcastle,
which was opened in the Spring.
The plant shreds material and screens it to remove recyclable streams. The
biodegradable component of the waste, which makes up about 40% of the waste,
is then taken 20 miles north to SITA's indoor composting plant at Ellington,
Northumberland.
The process takes approximately 10 weeks and can produce around 20,000 tonnes
of "grey" compost every year.
Quality
Julie Craigie, area manager for SITA UK, said: "The granting of the
exemption to spread the in-vessel produced compost to land is a demonstration
of the quality of the product we are producing here and of the beneficial
nature of the product in helping to improve poor quality land."
She added: "Because of the nature of materials used to produce the
soil conditioner, the end product is classed as recovered waste and the
Environment Agency has stringent quality standards that must be met before
they will allow the material to be used for landscaping and restoration
purposes."
Now SITA is negotiating with local landowners and land restoration companies
in Northumberland who need large amounts of material to landscape their
sites.
Mr Wise-Merry said: "We are confident that we will find other markets.
The process of applying for exemptions is ongoing."
- Grey compost at SITA's Ellington facility after it
has been composted