CIWM North East Centre & IOSH Environmental & Waste Management Group
Joint Open Meeting - 14th July 2017: School of Environmental Sciences, Cohen Building, University of Hull, Hull, HU6 7RX
Agenda
09:00 Arrival and registration
09:30 Welcome - Professor Dan Parsons, Institute of Energy and the Environment, University of Hull
09:40 Closing the Loop for Food Waste – Kevin Brook, Senior Consultant, 4r Group
Hurdles and pitfalls for closed loop recycling of food waste.
Applications of organic byproducts onto agricultural and restored land? What could be simpler? There’s surely plenty of land and an ever more plentiful supply of treated food waste to recycle. The reality is not quite as straightforward. The national landbank is limited and demands only increase from a rising population insistent on improving environmental standards with food safety of course paramount. 4R Group has been at the forefront of land application of biosolids and treated food waste for over 10 years, steadily growing to meet the demands of this expanding sector. Growing numbers of treatment facilities means volumes of organic rich materials which need to be recycled, ie. that require landbank, are increasing. It is ever more important that treated waste outputs are produced to the highest possible standards in order to facilitate their recovery to land. Constant innovation in waste science and recycling technologies should ultimately expand usability of non-source segregated waste outputs to include agricultural applications.
10:00 Food waste pre-treatment Danish style – Tony Pickess MSc Sustainable Waste Management, MCIWM, Gemidan Ecogi
Support for the principals of the circular economy is strong in Denmark. Awareness of the social, economic and environmental problems associated with food waste is high and communities are keen to act to address these issues. Across society the priority is to reduce the amount of food wasted. Food that is unfit for consumption is separated in the home and by commercial and industrial food waste producers to be sent for the recovery of renewable energy. Gemidan Ecogi A/S have spent 6 years developing a high-performance food waste pre-treatment technology to help maximise the environmental and economic benefits of energy recovery from food waste in the anaerobic digestion sector.
10:20 Future Opportunities for Food Waste Recycling and Biomethane Production - Mark Richmond, WRM Ltd
WRM will make a presentation on a major research study recently completed for Northern Gas Networks looking at how local authorities can work together to identify feedstock opportunities that can support the development of gas to grid AD projects. Local Authority feedstock provides a clear opportunity for future growth and this has been well voiced in the industry, although accessing local authority collected material has proved challenging due to the lack of public sector funding for the introduction of new (food) waste collection rounds. The project sought to address this challenge through work with three Councils to develop an innovative approach to collections which utilizes value created from the AD operation to support the cost of collecting feedstock. The work has looked at innovative approaches to feedstock collections, how public/private partnerships can spread costs and risks to progress a project, and how a consortium can work to optimize the performance of a whole (collection and treatment) project. The development of this conceptual project has been followed up with a full financial model to provide insight on how the approach stacks up for stakeholders such as the AD developer/operator and local authorities providing the feedstock. This has created a ‘blueprint’ for establishing future public sector AD projects which other local authorities can adopt to examine opportunities in their districts.
10:40 Q&A Session
11:00 Break
11:15 Circular economy and resource security: recovering metals from legacy
Wastes - Dr Pauline Deutz, Reader, School of Environmental Science, University of Hull
Legacy wastes from industrial processes such as steel production and bauxite processing have been identified as stocks of potentially valuable metals. Technological change has created demand for metals, such as vanadium, in electronics associated with renewable energy generation. Current raw material and circular economy policy initiatives in the EU and industrial ecology research all promote this activity. This project combine research into the technology of recovery with research into the governance and stakeholder perspectives of resource recovery. Using the potential for the recovery of vanadium from steel slag as a case study, the talk will briefly present emerging techniques for recovery and consider their regulatory implications in the light of potential environmental impacts. The research draws on EU and UK regulatory framework for these residues along with semi-structured interviews with industry and regulatory bodies. A complex picture emerges of entwined ownerships and responsibilities for residues, with past practice and policy having a lasting impact on current possibilities for resource recovery.
11:35 Circular Economy: Managing Substances of Concern - Dr Gene Wilson, Director of Corporate Stewardship MCIWM, MRTPI MIEMA, Augean
In the context of the recent EU Consultation paper “Chemical, Product, Waste Interface” the presentation will consider the challenges of managing substances of concern in a circular economy preventing perpetuation in the cycle of utility.
11:55 Duty of Care and the Journey Towards Zero Waste to Landfill - Andy Robertson, Chair IOSH Environmental & Waste Management Group (EWMG)
Zero waste to landfill is a goal being set by an increasing number of organisations, as part of their Sustainability and / or Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. But, what does the journey entail and how do you know when you’ve got there?
This presentation looks at what Zero Waste can mean to different people, how it should be defined to help employees and other interested parties understand what the goal is, what some of the common waste treatment processes are and how knowledge of these, along with a Waste Duty of Care approach, can help EHS professionals get a better handle on where their organisation is with regard to Zero Waste and what changes can be made to achieve their goal, whilst ensuring legal compliance along the way.
12:40 Q&A Session
13:00 Lunch – sponsored by Institute of Energy and Environment, University of Hull & IOSH
14:00 Finish
This event is free of charge
Contact: Gail Gray, MCIWM
gail.gray@environment-agency.gov.uk
CIWM North East is sponsored by:
