to read the full report - Ecolateral by Peter Jones

Evaluation of Opportunities for Converting Indigenous UK Wastes to Wastes and Energy
AEA/ED45551/Issue 1
Recycling
Table 46 shows that the recycling rate for paper and card has increased from 34% in 1995 to 71% in
2007. 145 The UK collected 8.5 million tonnes of paper for recycling in 2007, but as it only has capacity to
produce about 5 million tonnes of paper and card products, and thus 4 million tonnes of collected material
is exported for recycling. 146
Table 46: Paper and board recycling rates for the UK, accounting for imports and exports
Year 1995 2000 2005 2007
Recycling rate (Wt %) 34 41 62 71
Forecast
Assuming that there is no increase in the proportion of paper and board arisings in MSW and C&I wastes,
then the predictions of general waste increase can be used to estimate that MSW paper and board waste
will have risen to 7.6 million tonnes by 2010 and 8.0 million tonnes by 2020, and C&I paper and board
waste will have risen to 19,320,000 tonnes in 2010 and 20,240,000 tonnes by 2020. Total estimated
arisings of paper and cardboard in the UK will be about 28.2 million tonnes per annum in 2020.
Conclusion
There has been considerable interest in paper and board as a potential feedstock for the generation of
energy. This waste stream is predicted to increase over the coming years, and as such should be a
stable feedstock.
5.6 Conclusions
A number of materials are of particular interest for future energy and fuels production. Most are extracted
from bulk, collected waste streams. These are:
• Waste wood extracted from MSW, C&I and C&D waste streams, including all wood packaging
waste. A large proportion of the wood will have been treated with a preservative, or similar, and
therefore the waste must be used in a WID compliant site. Total UK MSW wood waste arisings
are estimated to be 1.06 million tonnes, based on good quality data, while both C&D and C&I
data sources are of poor quality, but estimations are that C&D arisings were 4.4 million tonnes,
and C&I arisings were 4.48 million tonnes.
• Food waste is a major waste stream, with a total of 18-20 million tonnes generated each year. Of
this 6.7 million tonnes is from UK households, while the commercial and industrial sector also
contributes to the food waste stream, with 1.6 million tonnes from retailers, 4.1 million tonnes
from food manufacturers and 3 million tonnes from food service and restaurants.
• Tallow is a product of the rendering industry, and all UK production, currently estimated to be
250,000 tonnes per annum, is already used for some commercial function. Use of this material
for alternative purposes, e.g. bio-diesel production, is already occurring and is disrupting
traditional markets.
• Textile waste arises mainly from MSW and C&I waste streams, estimated to be 1.9 million tonnes
each year in the UK. Reuse of high and medium quality textiles offers significant environmental
benefits, only when textiles are very badly damaged or soiled does energy recovery and similar
solutions become advisable.
145 Recovery and recycling of waste paper and board: 1993 – 2007, Defra, 2008,
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/waste/download/xls/wrtb20.xls
146 Key industry facts 2007. Confederation of Paper Industries, 2008.
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