Ever since Europe has observed the energy crisis, energy recovery has started getting more attention. Europe hasn’t seen a crisis like this one in the span of 50 years. When energy supply reduces, the prices tend to increase, and this raises the significance of efficient EfW plants. Besides, the present situation also points to the fact that EfW is here to stay and should be a part of the sustainable solution.
In addition, the inability to utilize the most waste for chemical or mechanical recycling also supports the need for energy recovery. Residual waste is still huge and needs a sustainable deposit. Most people refer to energy recovery as material recycling’s unpopular cousin. Still, it contributes a lot to energy creation in the form of industrial steam, electricity, and district heating for various households and companies across Europe. Another popular alternative used in cement production is the solid-recovered fuel (SRF). It’s sustainable development for one of the most CO2-polluting industries. Hence, the significance of energy recovery is increasing more than ever with the economy’s transition from a linear to a circular model.
In Europe, energy recovery is on the rise with several plants under construction. Within the continent, Germany tops the chart for energy recovery rate with the conversion of 26 million tons of waste into energy every year. Another million tons will be added to this value in the next three years with new facilities coming up. This will require Germany to increase its imports of SRF and RDF.
Even in the UK, the EfW capacity will grow in the coming years. Tolvik, a consulting company, provided an estimated increase in Britain’s EfW production in its annual report. It states the production will reach 19.4 million tonnes with a rise of more than 4 million tonnes every year by 2026.
Factors such as logistics, taxation, and efficiency are vital to enhancing energy recovery in the future. Waste market imbalance in Europe is a primary cause of most challenges the recovery industry is facing. As of now, Scandinavia and Northern Europe are on the top with the highest EfW capacity. On the other hand, Southern Europe lies at the bottom with no resource to incinerate its waste and no willingness to pay for it. But we need to act and prevent residual waste from going to the landfill. This requires facilitating effective transport and export to plants in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany.
In Northern Europe, the EfW plants are much more efficient than those producing only electricity due to the larger production of district heating and industrial steam. In Europe, increasing facilities for steam and district heating will drive the sustainable development of energy recovery in the long run.
While driver shortage and higher transport costs are obvious challenges existing in the logistics industry today. The lack of required infrastructure is another challenge. Creating a “green” rail transport through Europe depends on mandatory upgrades and EU coordination. A more efficient waste flow between countries will also rely on faster development within digitalization and less rigidity in bureaucracy.
Opinions towards applying taxes, whom to tax, and its effects on reducing emissions from waste recovery differ across Europe. In any case, price-sensitive tools like quota trading – EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) can help push energy recovery towards deploying more biogenic and sustainable fuels. An increase in the cost of emitting CO2 will improve the incentives for the development of CCS (carbon capture and storage) and other solutions at EfW plants.
At present, the EU is considering the probability of introducing ETS for all the member states by 2026. With that said, work is underway in Germany for the introduction of targeted CO2 taxation by January 2023.
As a matter of fact, a sizeable portion of European waste still ends up in the landfill. Hence, it produces a considerable amount of CO2 emissions. Even though the EU is taking strong steps toward creating a more circular and sustainable future, we are still far from the ability to efficiently and responsibly handle the majority of the waste. Here, the EU needs a more predictable, less bureaucratic, and open market for energy recovery to achieve its sustainability goals