Welcome to the Mechanical Biological Treatment Web Site
We have called this website the Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) Web Site, as we think that most of you will arrive after searching for MBT, as most of these technologies will be used as part of an MBT strategy. The site might also be called "Waste Management Technologies" which would be a better title for the non-expert.
Others especially in Europe have adopted the term "Mechanical Biological Pre-Treatment", as the starting point for all these processes is the intent to re-use, recycle or treat the waste, and in particular to reduce the organic (compostable) content as much as possible before the residue eventually is sent to landfill.
It is now 5 years since we set up this website and there has been significant progress. In the table below we have set out a comparison between the situation at that time and the current figures as published by DEFRA:-
To set the scene, for the United Kingdom:-
The Position in 2003 (when I started this web site):
The position in 2008:
Household (municipal) waste growth was 3% per annum, and that's greater than the growth of the economy as a whole.
Total municipal and household waste (BMW) has increased steadily since 1996/97 by an annual average of 3.0 and 2.3 per cent respectively until 2003/4 when the rise in rates reduced. Forecasts still predict growth in BMW at between 1% and 3% annually. 2006 increases were due to due to increased inputs at material recovery and composting facilities. 2006 figures show reliance on landfill continues to decrease, and inputs are down 4% since 2005 and 18% over the period since 2000; landfill deposits have fallen slowly but steadily and are down 18% since 2001 – equivalent to 15.5 million tonnes. Inputs to licensed treatment facilities have increased significantly since 2000/1 and the 2006 returns show significant increases in inputs to materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and composting plants since 2005. If waste transfer is discounted (almost all 'transferred' waste will have gone on to treatment or disposal) the total amount of waste handled at permitted sites fell in both 2005 and 2006. (Defra)
We are a wasteful society. 20% of food goes straight into the bin.
Wastefulness remains unchanged although a growing amount of discarded food is at least being composted. Some recent studies have put current UK rates of food waste even higher at closer to 30%.
28 million tonnes per annum of Municipal Waste was generated, of which 89% is Household Waste.
Each year England generates 100 million tonnes of waste from household, commerce and industry. Much of this, ends up in landfill where it degrades and generates up to 40 per cent of the UK's methane – or about 3 per cent of our total greenhouse gas emissions.
Over 80% of all household waste was landfilled.
The proportion of total municipal waste sent to landfill had declined from 84 per cent to 72 percent by 2005. Down from 80 million tonnes annually in 2000/2001 to 67.9 million tonnes in 2005.
Landfills contribute 25% of total emissions of methane (CH4), the greenhouse gas which has 21 times more impact than carbon dioxide (CO2).
Landfills continue to contribute a similar proportion of total emissions of methane (CH4), as the total volume of gassing waste in landfills has risen, but regulation and a favourable economic climate for EfW has ensured very high rates of landfill gas collection and the minimum impact possible.
At the current waste growth, if we do nothing, waste management costs are set to double by 2020 from £1.6bn (€2.2bn) to £3.2bn (€4.3bn).
The spectre of rising costs due to growth has been slightly averted, but waste processing costs are proving consistently high. The Landfill Tax escalator increases the burden on industry each year. Costs are rising per tonne to pay for the new regulations and the new waste processing technologies. Demand for new waste processing infrastructure in the context of a high demand for construction expertise and a general construction skills shortage which already exists is creating high inflation in the waste infrastructure/ PFI market. At least one local authority has stated that their local road maintenance funding has been cut in order to pay for rising waste management costs.
Landfill voids are being filled faster than new ones are being generated, and nobody wants a landfill anywhere near their neighbourhood.
No change, although from now on, as filling rates decline; the life of the existing landfill capacity is being extended.
"It's not sustainable, and we've got to begin to think of waste as a resource and apply the "waste heirarchy" (below right). That's what Mechanical Biological Treatment is all about."
"We are still a long way from sustainability, but the Government and UK Waste Industry has begun to think of waste as a resource and the application of the "waste heirarchy" has become an integral part of every government waste contract let.
Then and now:
Alternating fortnightly collections for recyclables and mixed waste being tested by just a handful of authorities.
Alternating fortnightly collections are becoming the norm, but are also unpopular and a political "hot potato" and the perceived problems are being well publicised by the media.
With over half the population(England) now considering themselves committed recyclers, recycling rates have increased to 31%. The recycling of packaging waste has doubled from 27% in 1998 to 56% in 2006. (Joan Ruddock MP; in her speech on 28 January 2008).
Householder penalties, or charges, to those persistently disposing of large waste quantities, or not segregating waste, was unheard of.
Government encouraging LA's to charge householders extra for excessive waste, and also penalise them for persistently placing unsorted waste in their bins for collection.
The UK Government has created a Waste Infrastructure Development (WID) Programme for England, which is administered within DEFRA. Their remit is to oversee the allocation of the Private Finance Initiative - or PFI - credits to help local authorities build new waste plants. Additional funding for PFI was announced by the Chancellor in the 'Autumn 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review'. The PFI programme will increase to £2 billion over the next 3 years, from January 2008. Waste strategy elsewhere in the UK is the remit of the regional assemblies and the Scottish Parliament where similar or more advanced targets exist.
For more scene setting, highly recommended if you are new to the subject, click here.
Fig. 1. The Waste Heirarchy
We have been involved in all aspects of the introduction of Mechanical Biological Treatment to the United Kingdom since the inception of the concept, over the years since the Landfill Directive came into force in July 2001. In this web site we share our knowledge in "the processes capable of treating municipal waste".
For visitors world-wide who are reading this website, we hope that we will make you aware of many of the technologies which may also be capable of solving your problems.
We also hope you will contact us if you have a problem we can possibly solve.
For all visitors we hope that this site will prove to be a useful introduction to the ever widening subject that MBT has become.
Waste Technologies Described - in My eBook! Now Newly Updated for 2008!
This web site is based upon the ebook "An Introduction to Waste Technologies", by Steve Last. (January 2008 Edition)"
Print it out. Keep it for reference, and store it on your hard drive...
If you find this web site interesting then you are bound to find our ebook even more so.
This ebook includes concise information on each technology plus very broad estimated costs for each type of facility. Please note that these prices are not included here on the web site, nor are they available anywhere else.
Buy now at our reduced price £9.99 (GBP) about $20 US.)
Buy it online here, and you can be downloading it in the next 5 minutes - available at any time. 30 day money back guarantee.
Contents
An introduction to the processes capable of handling mixed municipal waste 'as delivered'*.
* these are the waste management processes capable of receiving mixed 'black bag' municipal waste, excluding landfill. A minor degree of pre-processing will often still be required for these processes however this is usually only a small component of the overall system, the most significant being with the Fluidised Bed EfW system.
† these are processes that generally cannot effectively operate without either another waste management process / operation taking place (such as source segregation of MSW) before waste comes to the plant, or a significant pre-treatment operation at the front-end of the facility.
If you like to watch videos, the two below will give anyone new to waste technologies, an insight into the type of plant layouts and activities common to the types Waste Processing/MBT plants described on this web site, in this case applied to a MRF (Materials Recycling Facility) and a Composting system.
(c) 2004 - 2008 All rights reserved. Mechanical Biological Treatment
Advertisement: Enviros Consulting Ltd was the Local Authority Supporter throughout the DEFRA New Technologies Programme. Enviros continues to work for DEFRA in connection with their Demonstrator Projects.
