Draft Business Waste Strategy PDF - london.gov.uk - Greater ...

68 Mayor of London
Making waste work in London The Mayor’s Draft Business Waste Management Strategy
3.134 Changing the fuels used for waste collection vehicles is another
opportunity to make waste management transport more sustainable.
Biodegradable wastes can provide a renewable source of methane, which
can be combined with natural gas to create a transport fuel. Greenwich
Council is investigating the option to produce methane from its proposed
anaerobic digestion facility to use as a transport fuel in its vehicle fleet
and run its school buses.
3.135 Bio-diesel can be produced from waste oils and other organic wastes.
An LDA study 153 shows that bio-diesel produced from used cooking oil
is an environmentally-benign alternative to traditional diesel, emitting
50 per cent less carbon monoxide and 78 per cent less carbon dioxide
than fossil-based diesel 154 . When produced to the appropriate standards,
bio-diesel can be introduced to existing diesel engines without any need
for engine modification. Establishing bio-diesel production from used
cooking oil helps to absorb a waste material that is under increasingly
strict controls and which can be problematic when incorrectly disposed
of causing, for example, blocked drains.
3.136 London’s first bio-diesel refinery opened in Edmonton, north London
in March 2007 155 . Pure Fuels has the capacity to produce 3.5 million litres
of bio-diesel each year from used cooking oil collected from businesses
across London. Bio-diesel currently sold at public filling stations contains
only a maximum of five per cent bio-diesel, the other 95 per cent being
regular, mineral diesel. Increasing the percentage of bio-diesel is not
possible without invalidating vehicle warranty, a serious limitation to
substantial market growth.
3.137 The Mayor’s Air Quality Strategy supports taking waste and recycled
materials off the road and utilising the rail and water networks, which
emit fewer air pollutants than road travel 156 . In 2003, the transportation
of 650,000 tonnes (15 per cent) of municipal waste by river saved some
100,000 lorry movements on London’s roads 157 , reducing congestion and
the negative environmental impacts associated with road haulage.
Alternative options, such as collection vehicles that can switch between
road and water transport and underground vacuum waste collection
systems, are being investigated.
3.138 The majority of non-road waste movements in London are to transport
waste to landfill. As London diverts material from landfill, it will be
essential that wharves and rail-heads used for waste are retained for
moving recycled materials.