Investigation into the non-biological outputs of mechanical-biological treatment facilities

Mechanical-biological and biological-mechanical treatment (MBT/BMT) are effective methods for reducing biogenic additions to landfill, producing fuel products and recovering recyclate from residual waste. However, large amounts of contamination in the non-biological outputs reduce their market value. The aim of this study was therefore to identify the principal drivers and barriers to the marketability of ferrous metals (MBTFe) and heavy inert rejects (MBTr) recovered from four UK MBT/BMT plants. The plants were either using biodrying or anaerobic digestion (AD-MBT) for biological processing. Samples were collected at the different recovery stage processes and characterised for elemental composition and particle size distribution. Results showed that processes at the two biodrying plants produced MBTFe with 10% less contamination by non-target materials than the two AD-MBT plants. Further to this, approximately 10% of the MBTFe fraction sampled at all four facilities comprised non-target material which had become entrapped in the folds of metal food containers. A possible cause is waste comminution in the cutting gap of the low-speed high-torque cutting mills. Upgrading MBTFe outputs could save the UK MBT/BMT industry up to £4.4 million per annum which equates to £230,000 per annum for an average sized facility (i.e. capacity 108,000 tpa). Glass content in the MBTr samples ranged between 44% and 62%, however all plants showed approximately 85% combined content of glass, bricks, stones and ceramics. The biodegradable content in the MBTr samples indicated that only minimal upgrade would be required to achieve the Landfill Directive requirements for inert waste. Again valorisation of MBTr could save the UK MBT/BMT industry up to £1.9 million pa which equates to £160,000 per annum for an average sized facility.