By Marco Muia - aka Enviroman
Most readers will be acutely aware of the problems with recycled wood and the difficulty in finding end users and stable markets. With the board mills’ fluctuating prices and specifications, and the Environment Agency’s stance on the definition of waste, there appear to be few options for treated timber arising from the construction and demolition waste sector. One of the favoured questions that crops up on almost every site visit I do at the moment is “Why can’t we burn it?”.
The only legal and effective way of burning waste wood and other biomass is to do it in an appliance which meets the requirements of the waste management licensing or PPC permitting regime. This usually means using the heat produced from combustion and/or generating electricity. There are many available options and plant sizes but the permitting regime caused a lot of confusion. The aim of this article is to point readers in the direction of the appropriate regulatory regime and deal briefly with some of the main issues.
What is biomass?
Traditionally biomass has been taken to mean energy crops, forestry residues and other naturally arising products but now tends to include waste wood and any organic waste products. Planning Policy Statement 22 states that “Biomass is the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from agriculture (including plant and animal substances), forestry and related industries, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste.”
Equipment types?
There are a wide variety of plants using mass burn, gasification, pyrolysis and plasma technology, with equally diverse price tags. The type of equipment and fuel will also determine the appropriate control regime. There are a number of established technology providers and before investing with one, check the plant specifications thoroughly to ensure that the plant can process your waste and that you can successfully obtain a permit for it.
Do I need planning for a waste wood appliance?
In most cases yes. Most plants occupy a significant floor space for fuel storage, burning or gasification and engines. Smaller space heaters may not require planning. It depends upon the planning authority’s interpretation. Planners are generally more receptive to biomass fuelled applications than straight waste to energy proposals as they invariably have renewable energy targets to meet (as long as other policy objectives are met). The erection of a new building will be the main requirement for installations of 100 Kw/h or more with the main difficulty being the exhaust stack height (it may be visually obtrusive in some areas). Larger plants may also need an environmental impact assessment as part of the planning application process, as they are schedule 2 developments for EIA purposes and a screening opinion is required to determine whether or not an EIA is required. The operation of a 24 hour process will inevitably lead to a requirement for a noise assessment survey.
Marco Muia BSc (Hons) MSc MCIWM is the Director of Oaktree Environmental Limited. He specialises in all aspects of waste regulation consultancy and is a WAMITAB accredited assessor for the COTCs in waste transfer, treatment and inert landfill. He also holds the level 4 COTCs for Hazardous Waste Treatment and Transfer. Contact Marco if you have any questions about this article - e-mail him at enviroman@theskip.net
