A £10 million autoclave plant which will be one of the first in Europe to treat commercial "black bag" waste is set to open at the beginning of 2008. The facility, operated by London-based waste management company Sterecycle, is situated in Rotherham, South Yorkshire and has a processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes per annum.
It will initially take in waste from commercial premises in Yorkshire, like hotels and offices, but Sterecycle is hoping to secure a number of local authority contracts. One of which is Neath Port Talbot council in Wales, who shortlisted the company for a 25-year agreement which would see 160,000 tonnes of household black bag waste treated every year. The company's development director Rod Brennan said, "UK councils are under significant pressure to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill. Our autoclave technology means that much of the waste that is traditionally landfilled can be recycled cleanly and safely."
Sterecycle's commercial waste autoclave treats black bag waste through a combination of steam and pressure - a technology which has been patented. It then sorts the material using standard separation equipment such as size screening and magnetic separation to divide the recyclables from the residual waste. The end materials from the process include metals, plastics, glass, textiles and a biomass fibre which can be used as a renewable energy source or as a soil conditioner.
Sterecycle aims to build at least five autoclave plants in the UK over the next three years.
