Sustainable Solutions April 2009

WASTE
C&I waste:
growth and opportunities
Jonathan Clarke, managing director of TiTech UK, examines the significance of the commercial &
industrial (C&I) waste stream and the opportunities for valuable materials recovery from this sector.
R
ECYCLING AND 60 million tonnes in 2002/03 to about 71 is a growing acknowledgement that they
recovery have now become million tonnes by 2019/20. need regular collection services to meet their
acknowledged as part It estimates that the UK will need 180 needs. Research suggests that the majority
of the nation's everyday additional C&I waste treatment facilities (51%) of mixed (unsorted) commercial waste
vocabulary. The drive for householders to by 2020, and also says that the roles and is collected from SMEs, so there is a clear
view their waste differently has resulted in responsibilities of those generating C&I gap in the recycling and recovery chain when
the public being much more environmentally waste should include support for and buying it comes to reliable collection services for
aware, with many active recyclers among into sustainable waste management and this sector.
them. This enthusiasm is carrying over to improved resource efﬁ ciency. Supposing this gap is plugged, the second
the workplace; but there are some signiﬁ cant So what exactly does this entail? issue is to develop appropriate treatment
differences to overcome if best practice from facilities to process the collected materials.
household waste recycling is to be transferred
Making C&I waste work
C&I waste is often perceived as a more
to the commercial and industrial (C&I) Firstly, collection routes need complex materials stream than
sector. to be established and general household waste
There is a clear and immediate need to standardised as far as because it is derived from
ﬁ nd better ways of dealing with C&I waste: possible. Businesses multiple sources, such
while only 9% of the waste sent to landﬁ ll is are responsible as factories, retail
actually from household waste, 25% comes for making outlets, ofﬁ ces,
from commercial and industrial sources. their own warehouses, etc.
What's more, Defra's Waste Strategy 2007, arrangements A more
indicates that, without action, C&I waste for disposal, 'commercial'
arisings could grow signiﬁ cantly from around and there area will
include
wholesalers,
catering
establishments,
shops and
ofﬁ ces. The waste
is therefore likely
to include paper,
cardboard, metals, glass
and organic materials. Of
these, the paper element can
be signiﬁ cant in volume and be of high
quality. Where the collection is from more
industrial premises, it will not only contain
general ofﬁ ce waste but also wood, metals,
scrap equipment, etc.
The composition of the waste is therefore
likely to ﬂ uctuate depending on the
businesses in a given catchment area. In order
to treat C&I waste and derive maximum
value from it, the treatment facility will need
a signiﬁ cant degree of ﬂ exibility.
38 SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS April 2009
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 | Page 7 | Page 8 | Page 9 | Page 10 | Page 11 | Page 12 | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Page 18 | Page 19 | Page 20 | Page 21 | Page 22 | Page 23 | Page 24 | Page 25 | Page 26 | Page 27 | Page 28 | Page 29 | Page 30 | Page 31 | Page 32 | Page 33 | Page 34 | Page 35 | Page 36 | Page 37 | Page 38 | Page 39 | Page 40 | Page 41 | Page 42 | Page 43 | Page 44 | Page 45 | Page 46 | Page 47 | Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 | Page 56 | Page 57 | Page 58 | Page 59 | Page 60