Veolia Insight - October 2015
Investing in ways to reduce landfill
We are now able to offer more of our customers zero waste to landfill solutions. It’s all thanks to a structured programme of investment in new infrastructure that will meet your landfill diversion requirements, including state-of-the-art facilities across the country.
Our newly opened Manchester Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) facility will divert up to 50,000 tonnes of commercial waste from landfill for our customers every year. RDF is an alternative to fossil fuel that is created by dehydrating and shredding any leftover waste that can’t be recycled. The RDF is then used at multi-fuel power stations to generate green energy. Processing residual waste into RDF offers different advantages to incinerating waste at Energy Recovery Facilities (ERF). When packaged, RDF has a high calorific value, which means that plants can achieve a more consistent burn rate when generating energy.
Similar facilities were recently opened at Castle Donnington, Birmingham and East Kent to ensure that customers all over the country can access our zero waste to landfill solutions.
Our new Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF) in Leeds is designed to remove recyclable materials from general waste and recover energy from everything that’s left. The state-of-the-art facility will significantly reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill. It also incorporates a green living wall, one of the largest of its kind in the country, to enhance bio-diversity. The facility will generate around 11MW of green energy – enough to power 20,000 homes. No materials at the facility will go to waste, including the leftover ash that can be used to produce asphalt and cement.
Construction is also underway for four new Waste Transfer Stations (WTS) where waste can be collected in bulk, segregated into separate materials and sent for recycling. Two of the facilities in Nottinghamshire at Newark and Worksop opened their doors for business in June this year. Construction of two more facilities is about to start in the next few weeks. The Southend WTS should be completed by next June and our Telford WTS is scheduled to start operating by the end of 2016.
Similar facilities were recently opened at Castle Donnington, Birmingham and East Kent to ensure that customers all over the country can access our zero waste to landfill solutions.
Our new Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF) in Leeds is designed to remove recyclable materials from general waste and recover energy from everything that’s left. The state-of-the-art facility will significantly reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill. It also incorporates a green living wall, one of the largest of its kind in the country, to enhance bio-diversity. The facility will generate around 11MW of green energy – enough to power 20,000 homes. No materials at the facility will go to waste, including the leftover ash that can be used to produce asphalt and cement.
Construction is also underway for four new Waste Transfer Stations (WTS) where waste can be collected in bulk, segregated into separate materials and sent for recycling. Two of the facilities in Nottinghamshire at Newark and Worksop opened their doors for business in June this year. Construction of two more facilities is about to start in the next few weeks. The Southend WTS should be completed by next June and our Telford WTS is scheduled to start operating by the end of 2016.
Are you ready for ESOS?
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory assessment scheme that will apply to many large UK organisations. Under the scheme, those that qualify must carry out ESOS assessments every four years, with the first audit due to be completed by 5th December 2015.
ESOS applies to all organisations that have 250 employees or more on the payroll, or an annual turnover in excess of £38,937,777 and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £33,486,489.
If that’s you, you must commission an audit of the energy used by your buildings, industrial processes and transport to comply. The audit will determine the areas of your business that represent at least 90% of your total energy consumption. It will also identify any cost-effective ways to improve energy efficiency in areas of high energy consumption.
The European legislation states that ESOS energy audits must be carried out by a qualified lead assessor by 5th December 2015. You must also notify the Environment Agency (EA) that you have complied with ESOS obligations. The EA has recently announced that penalties will not be applied to organisations who failt to notify them by this data as long as they complete the process by 29th January.
Our Energy Auditing team has vast experience in carrying out extensive energy audits across industrial and commercial sectors. We have in-house lead assessors, plus skilled surveyors that are experienced in site surveys and energy analysis. We also have a proven track record in implementing energy management systems that conform to ISO 50001.
If your organisation requires an ESOS energy audit before 5th December, we’ll put all our energy into making sure you achieve compliance, including the option of tailored pricing solutions and Energy Performance Contracts. To find out more email chris.butlin@veolia.com
If that’s you, you must commission an audit of the energy used by your buildings, industrial processes and transport to comply. The audit will determine the areas of your business that represent at least 90% of your total energy consumption. It will also identify any cost-effective ways to improve energy efficiency in areas of high energy consumption.
The European legislation states that ESOS energy audits must be carried out by a qualified lead assessor by 5th December 2015. You must also notify the Environment Agency (EA) that you have complied with ESOS obligations. The EA has recently announced that penalties will not be applied to organisations who failt to notify them by this data as long as they complete the process by 29th January.
Our Energy Auditing team has vast experience in carrying out extensive energy audits across industrial and commercial sectors. We have in-house lead assessors, plus skilled surveyors that are experienced in site surveys and energy analysis. We also have a proven track record in implementing energy management systems that conform to ISO 50001.
If your organisation requires an ESOS energy audit before 5th December, we’ll put all our energy into making sure you achieve compliance, including the option of tailored pricing solutions and Energy Performance Contracts. To find out more email chris.butlin@veolia.com
Helping you resource the world
With scarce resources under ever-more pressure, business as usual just isn’t enough. We’re helping customers to face the complex challenges that are driving change in business by leading the way in resource efficiency.
The take-make-dispose model uses huge amounts of natural resources and energy and is simply not sustainable. We’re helping customers to see things differently. Using our own business model as an example, we’ve demonstrated how organisations can profit from closed-loop thinking and the circular economy.
Thanks to our innovative thinking, 22% of our revenue now comes from circular solutions. Ideas that turn waste, water and heat into reusable resources, new products and clean energy. We’ve discovered how to transform household plastic packaging into things like fleeces and garden furniture. We’ve turned green waste into peat-free compost and waste detergent into a truck wash. All creating new revenue streams for our business.
We also turn waste into energy to help customers reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and their carbon footprint. At our Energy Recovery Facilities we’ve generated over 1.1 million MW hours of electricity. Our district heating scheme in Southwark provides heat and hot water to more than 2,500 homes. We’ve created 12 million litres of liquid fuel from food waste that can be transformed into energy and heat. We even have the capacity to generate 9,173 MW of energy at wastewater sites throughout the country.
Our innovative ideas and pioneering technologies are helping customers to meet their own environmental challenges too. By preserving and replenishing their resources. By extracting value from waste and resources in their supply chain. And by moving materials up the waste hierarchy. In fact, we’ve won the BITC Sustainable Products and Services Award for developing products and services that cut resource dependency. Together we can help your business to resource your world more efficiently.
“We have gone through transformational change to address the challenges of the future, adapting our business model to contribute to the circular economy through closed-loop solutions and reducing our carbon emissions.”
Estelle Brachlianoff, Senior Executive Vice-President UK & Ireland
Thanks to our innovative thinking, 22% of our revenue now comes from circular solutions. Ideas that turn waste, water and heat into reusable resources, new products and clean energy. We’ve discovered how to transform household plastic packaging into things like fleeces and garden furniture. We’ve turned green waste into peat-free compost and waste detergent into a truck wash. All creating new revenue streams for our business.
We also turn waste into energy to help customers reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and their carbon footprint. At our Energy Recovery Facilities we’ve generated over 1.1 million MW hours of electricity. Our district heating scheme in Southwark provides heat and hot water to more than 2,500 homes. We’ve created 12 million litres of liquid fuel from food waste that can be transformed into energy and heat. We even have the capacity to generate 9,173 MW of energy at wastewater sites throughout the country.
Our innovative ideas and pioneering technologies are helping customers to meet their own environmental challenges too. By preserving and replenishing their resources. By extracting value from waste and resources in their supply chain. And by moving materials up the waste hierarchy. In fact, we’ve won the BITC Sustainable Products and Services Award for developing products and services that cut resource dependency. Together we can help your business to resource your world more efficiently.
“We have gone through transformational change to address the challenges of the future, adapting our business model to contribute to the circular economy through closed-loop solutions and reducing our carbon emissions.”
Estelle Brachlianoff, Senior Executive Vice-President UK & Ireland
Get a competitive edge through resource efficiency
A successful circular economy will be driven by innovators with the vision to improve the way they manage valuable resources. Organisations that can find ways to build more sustainable products and business models.
At Veolia, our aim is to champion the circular revolution by hosting a series of events and webinars throughout 2016. We’d like to get as many of our customers involved as possible, but we appreciate that your core business must come first. So to help us shape the programme and make sure that you get the most out of it, we’d like to hear your thoughts.
We’ve put together a quick survey that asks about your preferences for the frequency and duration of events, how far you’d be willing to travel and what burning issues you’d like to see covered. To complete the survey simply click here.
We’ve put together a quick survey that asks about your preferences for the frequency and duration of events, how far you’d be willing to travel and what burning issues you’d like to see covered. To complete the survey simply click here.
Will new legislation affect your business?
Our Regulatory Affairs Director, Ray Parmenter shares his thoughts on upcoming legislation and regulatory changes.
Cutting Red Tape Initiative
There are likely to be few major regulatory changes for the coming year. Those that do appear will probably be deregulatory in nature. This is primarily because the Government has launched phase two of its Cutting Red Tape initiative. For waste, the review will look at the impact of regulations across the waste and resources sector, from production and processing to collection, disposal and treatment. The results will help to identify and remove barriers to moving the sector forward, while still protecting human health and the environment.
Waste isn’t the only sector affected by this review; it will extend to agriculture, adult care, money laundering, mineral and energy. For the energy sector, the review will assess how regulation and enforcement can best support well run markets in the interests of consumers, while keeping business costs and energy bills down. It will not include retail markets issues, tax or levies.
Circular Economy
From a European perspective, there are two interesting regulatory initiatives. The main one will be the Commission proposal on the Circular Economy that’s expected at the beginning of December. This initiative could signal a major step change in the way waste and resources are managed in the EU in future. It could also set tough targets for recycling and diversion from landfill, and is likely to include initiatives on prevention and reuse. A proposal on a Medium Combustion Plant directive has been agreed recently by the European Parliament, and the directive is likely to be published before the end of the year. This directive sits between the Industrial Emissions and Ecodesign directives, and will set emission limits on combustion plants that generate up to 50MW of power, such as those fitted to anaerobic digestion plants, in order to improve air quality.
Landfill Tax
Landfill Tax has seen two significant developments in 2015. The first was the devolution of the tax to the Scottish Government, and the second was the introduction of Loss on Ignition (LOI) testing. The rates of Landfill Tax look set to rise in line with inflation, making them fairly predictable at the moment (the increases will be linked to the September RPI figure). However, the tax is always evolving and proposals to devolve the tax to the Welsh Government are expected soon.
Electronic duty of care (EDOC)
Electronic duty of care (EDOC) was launched in 2015 and will make life easier for some waste producers. However, Veolia is working on its own electronic solutions that will fit better with our customers’ needs and business systems.