Commercial waste from across Birmingham is being turned into solid recovered fuel (SRF) at SITA UK’s new facility in the city.
The fuel will be used at the CEMEX cement works in Rugby once metals, plastics and paper are taken out for recycling. Anything with high water content or chlorine is removed as this would harm the cement making process.
SITA UK general manager – material sourcing Ben Harding said: “Traditionally, a significant proportion of Birmingham’s commercial waste has gone to landfill, but space is running out and as an environmentally-conscious company, we would rather see the waste put to good use.
“At the same time, coal and other fossil fuels are becoming increasingly scare, so finding alternatives is crucial, particularly for energy-intensive processes such as cement making.
“Our partnership with CEMEX to supply the Rugby kiln with a specialist fuel made from waste that can’t reasonably be recycled is providing a cost-effective, greener and cleaner solution to two problems – reducing landfill and preserving fossil fuels.”
Any material which does not meet the CEMEX specification is turned into an RDF for use in energy from waste facilities.
CEMEX UK community affairs manager Ian Southcott said: “We have been successfully burning Climafuel at Rugby since 2007 and during that time we have been steadily increasing the proportion we use.
“As the moment, we source Climafuel from a number of plants around the UK and to be able to secure supplies locally genuinely provides a local solution to the local problem of how best to utilise the waste that the community generates.”
A second facility producing Climafuel is planned for Rugby, next to the cement works and should be up and running by the end of 2014. Together, the two plants will produce around 250,000 tonnes of Climafuel per year.
