Focus on Energy & Renewables: Energy from Waste

Mon 13 Jul 2009

 Recycling; the possibilities are endless… and profitable!

With 2020 fast approaching many more projects for recycling and producing energy from waste are being both commissioned and considered such as the £400million Covanta EfW (Energy from Waste) plant near Merthyr Tydfil.

EfW will make an important contribution to the UK's renewable energy programme and is expected to generate substantial investment opportunities. It is also significantly contributing to EU Landfill reduction targets set out in 1999 stating that all member states must reduce the amount of waste buried in landfill sites by 25% of the 1995 levels by 2010, 50% by 2014 and 65% by 2020.

Waste management is an established sector already employing over 70,000 people in the UK. A recent study for BERR and DEFRA forecast that revenues in the sector will increase by 100% by 2015 and industry experts suggest that up to £30 billion in investment will be needed across the sector by 2020 to achieve the Government's targets.

Subsequently the UK needs to build sufficient infrastructure to process waste and to dispose of the residues adding further development possibilities. This presents a significant opportunity for investors and for businesses involved in everything from waste management contracts to plant hire and land development, and is expected to grow significantly over the next seven to ten years. As the Recycle Now campaign advert tells us “Recycling, the possibilities are endless”, so too are they profitable.