High Temperature and Clinical Waste Incineration
The incineration of Hazardous Waste and Healthcare Waste (covering both Clinical Waste and Offensive Waste) is, in many cases, the prescribed approach for the disposal of these wastes. In the UK there are 4 High Temperature Incinerators (or HTIs) focused on Hazardous Waste, 18 Clinical Waste Incinerators dedicated to Healthcare Waste (with one further site in construction for delivery in 2021) and 21 Residual Waste EFW incinerators that received Clinical Waste in recent years.
Context
The incineration of Hazardous Waste and Healthcare Waste (covering both Clinical Waste and Offensive Waste) is, in many cases, the prescribed approach for the disposal of these wastes. They can be broadly grouped by:
- High Temperature Incinerators (or HTIs) focused on Hazardous Waste and operating at combustion temperatures of up to 1450°C.
- Clinical Waste Incinerators dedicated to Healthcare Waste, having a primary combustion chamber operating at 800 - 1000°C, and a secondary combustion chamber at a minimum temperature of 1100°C with a retention of gases of two seconds[1].
- Residual Waste EFW incinerators which have historically been able to dispose of specific Clinical Waste streams where they meet the same combustion and handling requirements as set out in preceding point.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic the EA published a Regulatory Position Statement (RPS C23) clarifying the circumstances where COVID-19 waste can be incinerated with Municipal Waste Waste (MSW) until July 2021. [2]. Out of all Residual Waste EFW sites, 21 received Clinical Waste in 2019 and/or 2018, with some, such as Tyseley ERF, having a long history of receiving Clinical Waste and others currently applying to accept Clinical Waste in the longer term, such as Sheffield ERF, to enable continued receipt of this waste after RPS C23 expires.
List of Sites
The following table summarises all High Temperature and Clinical Waste Incineration sites, excluding micro-scale plants and Pet Crematoriums. Of the sites listed, only one has recently opened (Haylers End Energy Recovery) and one is in construction for delivery in the summer of 2021 (Scotia Business Park). The largest High Temperature Incinerator site in the UK, and one of the most advanced in Europe[3], is Veolia's Ellesmere Port Incinerator which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary[4].
Within the table below the headline plated capacity, the total tonnage received in 2019 and the tonnage of Clinical Waste received in 2019 is listed, with the type of site grouped into 3 categories:
- High Temperature Incinerators (HTI) (4 sites)
- Clinical Waste Incinerators (ClinIncin) (18 sites plus 1 in construction)
- Incinerators that received Clinical Waste in 2019 and/or 2018 (Incin) (21 sites plus 1 that received but transferred out in 2018)
More detailed information can be found by clicking through to the site specific page from the table below:
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| ID | Site Name | Type of Site | Capacity (t) | Total Received 2019 | Clinical Received 2019 |
|---|
Tonnage Reported
In overall terms, the sites listed received 118,720 tonnes of Clinical Waste in 2019 and the HIT sites processed 126,788 tonnes of Hazardous Waste excluding the Clinical Waste they received, although there are some points to note in the tonnage reported:
- Incin sites report Non-hazardous Clinical Waste and Hazardous Clinical Waste in slightly different ways:
- Some split the Hazardous Clinical Waste tonnage out and report it as either Clinical or Hazardous Waste
- Some group the Hazardous and Non-Hazardous together report it all as Clinical Waste
- Some report the Hazardous tonnage as Hazardous Waste, but report the Non Hazardous within the general Non Hazardous waste received
- ClinIncin sites tend to report different line items in their annual report tonnages, which do not make the separation of Hazardous and Non Hazardous Clinical Waste always easy to understand
- There are a few sites that may have received waste but sent it onward for processing elsewhere, either due to plant breakdown/availability or by using different treatment options for the waste received than incineration
- The plated capacity is often by reference to the Environmental Permit limit, or the design capacity referenced in the annual report for the site, which ever the operating company chooses to report
- Some of the ClinIncin have only recently been captured by the need to produce an annual a report
- The Fine Environmental Services Seal Sands Facility is a dedicated facility for processing Hazardous Waste from the adjacent industrial facility alone
- Hazardous Waste is received by Cement Kilns and is separately listed on the Cement Kiln page of WikiWaste - in 2019 it totaled 129,795 tonnes of Hazardous Waste EWC codes