The pungent smell of decomposing waste immediately hits the throat. Shredded to shreds, the rubbish forms a gigantic gray pile dotted with a few familiar shapes – a blue plastic bag, a Christmas wreath – in the airlock that houses it at the Ferrybridge site, an incineration plant, south of Leeds . Operated by a worker behind a bay window, a crane lifts a handful of waste and drops it into the boiler.
“We receive 120 trucks per day of non-recyclable wasteexplains Steve Tosney, the factory manager. They are burned, which generates steam heated to 430°C with a pressure of 80 bars. » The factory is one of four sites operated by the Enfinium Group in the UK. “In total, we produce more than 340 megawatts of energy per year, enough to power 800,000 homes”says Wayne Robertson, responsible for commercial relations and strategy for the company.
But the procedure is not neutral for the environment, as evidenced by the column of grayish smoke escaping from the thin white chimney overlooking the factory. However, from 2028, British waste incineration companies will have to offset their CO emissions2 by acquiring carbon credits. This encouraged Enfinium to start up a pilot carbon capture unit in September. Housed in a container, it is made up of an interweaving of pipes and tanks which gives it the appearance of an alchemist's laboratory.
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Source: Lemonde