One of the issues most pertinent to waste management companies is how to deal with rubbish in a practical, sustainable and eco-friendly way. After all, if organisations fail to do this in relation to waste disposal, the consequences for the planet could be serious.
Some people claim that a good way to deal with a proportion of the rubbish generated by consumers and companies is to use it to produce biogas and thus power. And under the terms of plans announced by AeroThermal Group and 4Recycling, a new biogas plant may be constructed in Plymouth.The ideas have been presented to Devon County Council and their proponents are awaiting a response.
If the facility goes ahead, it will divert around 75,000 tonnes a year of municipal solid waste away from the landfill sites it would otherwise end up in. This will instead be harnessed to generate power.Commenting on the process, technical director at AeroThermal Tony Kimber said: “This system makes more of the material available, things like cardboard and paper can actually be digested having being autoclaved, whereas with other systems without autoclaving, the digestion process would not be able to deal with that material at all.”
The biogas produced at the plant if the proposals are accepted would be used to power two generators, which in turn would feed into the power grid.Typically, biogas refers to the gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter. It is the result of anaerobic digestion of biodegradable materials and it needs to take place in the absence of oxygen.
When it comes to waste disposal, waste management companies are looking at increasingly novel and sophisticated methods of processing in a bid to reduce the environmental harm caused. Using rubbish as fuel is in some cases a good way to achieve this.