Rubbish dumps landfill for green electricity

07 July 2010

Pioneering power station recycles rubbish into renewable electricity for up to 8,000 homes

Britain’s first power station transforming demolition and construction waste into renewable electricity has started production in Sussex for electricity supplier Green Energy UK. The Enviropower Plant, which also turns general rubbish into power, is expected to divert 48,000 tonnes of unwanted materials from landfill each year, converting this into clean, green electricity - enough for up to 8,000 homes. The plant is the first of its kind in the UK and is the vision of Lancing-based waste management organisation Rabbit Group.

Speaking at an event in Brighton to highlight how a skip-load of general waste can be turned into electricity, Doug Stewart, founder of Green Energy UK, said: “This skip has come from a social housing scheme being renovated on behalf of Brighton and Hove City Council by Mears Group. An average skip like this, once you’ve taken out anything that can be recycled or reused, has enough fuel (rubbish) left over to power an average-sized house for three weeks, or 21 houses for a day, or 500 for an hour! Imagine how much renewable power could be generated if we could use the rubbish that currently ends up in landfill? Unless we have more investors like Rabbit Group putting money into projects like this, we really are letting energy go to waste.”

The Rabbit Group gathers demolition, construction and general skip waste from Sussex and sorts through it to see what can be recycled or re-used. What's left over is put through a biomass process at the Enviropower Plant, where its gasses are liberated through thermal treatment and burnt to produce electricity. The electricity is bought by Green Energy UK and is put into the National Grid for its customers. The residue left over from the biomass process is recycled at appropriately licensed sites and made into aggregate. Nothing is wasted.

“We realised that the country was running out of space to put its rubbish,” said Greg Blurton, who along with his sister Mandy Bridson co-owns Rabbit Group and has invested £15m in setting up the Enviropower Plant. “The laws on landfill are under great scrutiny from the EU, so we wanted to find a means of dealing with waste that was cost efficient, sustainable and kind to the environment.”

Doug Stewart concludes: “Preventing waste from going to landfill and creating electricity with virtually no carbon emissions gives us two green benefits for the price of one. It is a remarkable achievement. Rabbit Group has shown tremendous foresight; projects like the Enviropower Plant will help the nation in its effort to green up the National Grid.”

- Ends - Notes to editors

The Enviropower Plant is the first operational initiative in the UK to help meet EU targets that require member states to recycle or recover energy from at least 70% of construction and demolition waste.