Up in smoke

Too much rubbish in Northern Ireland is going into landfill

An environmental body is to press ahead with plans for a waste incinerator that produces power, despite a rebuff from Belfast City Council.

The council voted against its land at Belfast Lough's north foreshore being made available for the facility.

However, councillors backed a mechanical and biological treatment plant being built on the site.

Arc21, an umbrella waste management group for 11 councils in eastern Northern Ireland said it was committed to the plan and would seek another site.

It said the incinerator could provide power equivalent to that used by 40,000 homes.

A public consultation exercise had been carried out by the council, in which the majority of respondents backed the incinerator plan.

However, most of those opposed it from the Shore Road area, near where it would have been built.

Arc21 is working on a £1bn project to deliver one Energy from Waste (EfW) plant and up to two Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facilities.

The infrastructure will help councils meet EU landfill targets and deliver a more environmentally friendly approach to waste management.

Ashes

Ricky Burnett, arc21's policy and operations director, said they had been encouraged by the support for the project.

"Arc21 will continue to implement its waste management plan which aims to encourage people to reduce waste in the first place and boost recycling rates to at least 50%," he said.

"EfW and MBT however, are still required for that waste which it is not possible or practical to recycle.

"The decision by the city council enables us to move to the next stage in our procurement process.

"As planned, this will include a more definitive identification of the locations proposed for the new waste facilities later in the year.

"We anticipate awarding the contract by the beginning of 2011."

If Northern Ireland's councils do not drastically reduce the amount of rubbish going into landfill they will face fines under EU rules.

However, some environmentalists have argued that more recycling is needed instead of burning rubbish.

HOW IT WORKS: MASS WASTE INCINERATOR

Waste is tipped into a holding area (1) where it is picked up by grabs and dropped into a hopper (2).

The waste is pushed gradually into the incinerator (3) which runs at a temperature of 750 degrees Celsius.

Heat from the burning waste is used in a boiler (4) and steam from this is piped to a turbine generator to create electricity.

The heaviest ash falls into a collection point (5) and is passed over with an electromagnet to extract metal content for recycling.

Flue gases containing fine ash then pass through a scrubber reactor (6) to treat acid pollutants such as SO2 and also dioxins.

The gases then pass through a fine particulate removal system (7) and are released through the chimney stack (8).