Environment

Landfill capacity

Landfill sites across the UK , and particularly in the South East, are filling up. According to the Environment Agency, landfill capacity in the UK had fallen from 122 million cubic metres in 1997 but by 2007, this had fallen to 101 million cubic metres. In London the situation is even worse, falling from 20.7 million cubic metres in 1997, to 9 million cubic metres in 2007.

As landfill capacity becomes scarcer the cost of sending waste to landfill sites (and the accompanying costs of waste collection by waste management companies) will continue to rise.

In order to discourage the use of landfill, the UK governement applies landfill tax to every tonne of material sent to landfill, a cost which is directly passed on to the businesses creating waste as part of waste collection costs. In addition, local authorities will soon be fined for exceeding targets set for landfill

Reducing the amount of waste produced, and recycling waste instead of simply throwing it away can all help to keep the costs of running a business down.

Energy from waste

Sending waste to landfill has two effects; firstly landfill sites take up limited landfill sites, and secondly all the potential energy stored in the materials sent to landfill is also lost. Incineration has long been used to remove the problem of waste, but simply burning

One potential compromise to the two problems of waste is the use of ‘energy from waste' schemes. ‘Energy from waste' is a general term to describe a number of different technologies that have been developed or are in the process of being developed to convert the potential energy in waste into useful energy in the form of electricity. These technologies fall into two main sections:

Thermal technologies

  • Gasification - A process which turns low value waste, containing carbon into 'syngas' which can be burnt to produce electricity or heat.
  • Thermal depolymerisation - A process which reduces waste (particularly plastic and organic waste) into light crude oil which can be used as fuel.
  • Pyrolysis - A process which is often uses along with gasification. It uses pressure and/or heating to convert organic materials to a gas which can be used to produce energy or heat.
  • Plasma arc gasification - A process which uses an electrical current to break down waste into solid waste and gas which can be used to produce electricity or heat. The process is designed to produce more electricity than is consumed converting the waste.,

Non Thermal Technologies

  • Anaerobic digestion - A process which uses mirco-organisms to break down biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen to produce methane gas which can be burnt to produce electricity.
  • Fermentation - A process which uses mirco-organisms to act upon biodegradable waste in the presence of oxygen to produce 'alcohol' including ethanol and methanol which can be burnt to produce electricity or used as liquid fuel.
  • Mechanical biological treatment - A process which combines technologies. It uses a mechanical process to separate recyclable material from biodegradable material, before using anaerobic digestion or fermentation to to break down biodegradable products into fuel gas or liquids.

Many local authorities are considering options to create energy to waste plants in their areas - often with significant opposition from local groups through concerns about pollution and local effects of delivery and processing of waste. However, most energy from waste technologies (with the possible exception of simple incineration) are less polluting and intrusive than landfill sites.

Plastic bags

In recent years, reducing the use of plastic bags has become a central aspect to many corporations and organisations efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Although there are clear benefits to reducing plastic bag use, focusing on such a small area can be countreproductive. When considering how to minimise the impact of your business try to consider truly measurable changes alongside publicised efforts to work with your customers.