May 12, 2022 11.16 am This story is over 22 months old

Grantham waste WEEE-cycling centre looks to reduce carbon impact with expansion plans

Company currently sends recycled gases to Liverpool
Environcom is hoping to tackle its carbon footprint and bring some services in-house with its expansion. | Image: Google Street View

A waste recycling facility in Grantham is looking to expand to bring some of its services in-house and reduce its carbon footprint.

Environcom’s Great North Road Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) centre takes in electronic equipment – including fridges and white goods – then repairs and recycles those that can be resold and dismantles end-of-life items to recycle component parts.

Gas it recovers is currently turned into liquid and sent to Liverpool for thermal treatment and heat recovery, which requires multiple heavy goods vehicle journeys and takes potentially useful supplies out-of-house.

The company has now applied to Lincolnshire County Council, and consulted South Kesteven District Council, on plans to install a thermal treatment waste to energy plant (TTWE) on its site.

A planning statement submitted to LCC said the site would allow Environcom to treat the liquid form of the gas itself with plans to recover heat from the process to provide hot water and serve areas of the main building.

It said the plant will process around 260 tonnes of WEEE a year.

The application says the installation of the TTWE plant will be beneficial to the operations of the existing recycling facility as it will further decrease the carbon footprint of the facility and reduce the use of fossil fuels through enabling the factory to reclaim energy in the form of heat, while also removing the need to transport the recovered gas to Liverpool by road.

“To this end, the proposed development will reduce HGV movements and ‘waste miles’.”

The proposed TTWE plant will improve the sustainability of the site and provide for greater efficiency in terms of waste management, the planning application states.

“The recovery of gases processed will provide energy that will heat water internally within the facility, thereby reducing the company’s carbon footprint and use of water.”