Restrictions on woodwaste going to landfill would cause incineration and other logistical headaches, but plans for consultation on the issue are being broadly welcomed.
The government last week announced that landfill curbs on timber could form part of its overall waste review and that it planned to launch a consultation on the topic next year. It is also reviewing the case for landfill bans on textiles, metals and all biodegradeable materials.
Energy and climate change minister Greg Barker said the UK had cut landfill waste disposal by half since 2000. “But more needs to be done,” he said. “Letting waste rot in landfill when we can use it to power homes and vehicles is madness.”
Wood Panel Industries Federation director-general Alistair Kerr cautioned that the government move was still only “a proposal within a consultation ” but was a move in the right direction. The panels sector is currently concerned at the threat to its raw material supply posed by growing use of virgin fibre for wood fuel in power generation and Mr Kerr said landfill restrictions could alleviate this by reducing the amount of reusable fibre dumped.
“A lot of this material is mixed up with other fibre, such as treated wood, that can’t be so readily reused, recycled or incinerated,” he said. “Currently there’s little incentive to segregate this, so it’s all dumped. A landfill restriction could create that incentive and bring more waste back into the raw material stream.”
Complications of a landfill restriction already highlighted could be deciding who segregates the waste and how, and what to do with problematic material.
“To burn certain treated wood under the EU waste incinceration requirement, companies need special combustion equipment and back-end treatment facilities,” said Mr Kerr. “Currently few power generators have the latter.”
However, he added, over the next 5-10 years, more capacity to incinerate treated and other problem wood would come on stream.
“This is happening elsewhere in the EU where landfill restrictions on wood are already being introduced.”
The Timber Trade Federation has advised members it will “take a leadership role” in responding to the government consultation.
There are concerns about restrictions on wood to landfill, in terms of costs and logistics,” said chief executive John White.”But the bottom line is that it cannot be good to throw wood away and our message is that curbs or a ban could open up new commercial opportunities for timber companies – for instance in the growing biomass sector. We could see the emergence of woodwaste collection and sale networks and partnerships. We are currently collaborating with the British Woodworking Federation in [its] Timber Resource Efficiency Partnership initiative which has set up a pilot recycling depot project along the M62 corridor.”
Rick Wilcox of the Wood Recycling Association (WRA) welcomed the government consultation and said his membership were confident they would have the capacity to handle and process the extra woodwaste, although hazardous material, such as CCA-treated timber, would continue to go to landfill for the foreseeable future.
“Phased in restrictions will obviously be easier to handle than an immediate outright ban,” he said. “The keys to success will be educating the public and industry on waste segregation and bringing local authorities on stream.”
He said that there would also be sufficient demand in the UK and abroad for the waste from existing users and the growing biomass sector.
He added that the UK woodwaste recycling sector was expanding rapidly. The WRA has grown from 6 to 70 members in 10 years.
The Waste Resources Action Programme says the UK generates around 4.1 million tonnes of woodwaste annually, of which 2 million tonnes still go to landfill.
