PROFILE
up for additional energy generated to heat the North Terminal building . In total the new plant can generate 1MW of renewable energy a day , and we estimate that every day the plant runs , it saves Gatwick over £ 1,000 in energy costs .”
A change in regulation has allowed category 1 waste to be processed onsite , where beforehand it had to be handled away from airports in order to prevent any spread of infectious material .
Thompson adds : “ Gatwick was keen to find a better solution to this problem and worked closely with DHL to work through the complex regulations that apply to the disposal of category 1 waste . The advantages of managing our waste onsite are
“ The new plant can generate 1MW of renewable energy a day , and we estimate that every day the plant runs , it saves Gatwick over £ 1000 in energy costs ” numerous and go beyond energy generation . Water recovered from drying is used to clean bins , saving two million litres of water , and ash recovered from the boiler can be used to make low carbon concrete .”
Processing waste onsite will also result in 50 percent fewer lorry journeys to external waste plants , thereby reducing CO2 emissions . The plant also includes a waste sorting centre in a bid to maximise recycling rates – it is predicted that Gatwick will achieve an 85 percent rate by 2020 , well above its stated 2020 target and a significant improvement on the current 50 percent rate .
The amount of category 1 waste arriving at the new facility is also being cut down thanks to a new labelling system deployed with airline cleaning companies . This has allowed cleaning staff to identify EU / CAT 3 waste which otherwise would have been sent as category 1 . “ Although a simple process , this took nearly a year of trails before gaining approval from DEFRA and other relevant authorities ,” Thompson states . “ We believe we are the only airport in the UK to achieve this .”
12 June 2017