Waste board gives £12m to gasification plant
The London Waste and Recycling Board has announced that it will give £12 million of guarantee funding to a gasification plant proposed for a site in Dagenham, east London.
The plant, run by London-based technology firm Biossence, will process 100,000 tonnes of the capital’s waste and turn it into electricity. The plant will be situated on the site of local Ford factory in Dagenham.
It is expected to create 20 jobs when completed and power more than 15,000 homes.
It was confirmed at a City Hall LWaRB meeting (9 December) that the plant is expected to cost £80m and the board will guarantee £12m to help stimulate further investment.
The LWaRB has an £84m funding pot to help the capital manage its waste. At the LWaRB convention, LWaRB chief operating officer Andy Holdcroft said that he had held a series of meetings with project finance banks to help the LWaRB invest in waste technologies.
He said: “What is interesting is the number of general themes happening. In terms of acceptable technologies, most of them are willing to fund technologies that we look at subject to specific project risk positions. One area that they are a little concerned about is this direct burn of gas from gasification in gas turbines.”
Mayor Boris Johnson asked him to clarify what he meant and Holdcroft said bankers were concerned about the “acceptability of certain technologies”. Holdcroft added that anaerobic digestion, mechanical biological treatment and materials recycling facilities “are all technologies they are happy to put money into” but the banks had concerns over the “actual direct burn of gasification”.
The board also confirmed that it had invested £5m on the Recycle for London campaign this year. There were concerns from the Board over media reports questioning the effectiveness of the campaign and the need to fill a post for a LWaRB press officer to communicate the effectiveness of the campaign to the press. Part of the advertising TV campaign featured a hungry rubbish bag urging his owner to feed him with recyclable materials.
The Recycle for London campaign will be further boosted by support from the Waste & Resources Action Programme worth £2m. This combined with further efficiencies identified in executing the campaign brings its value to nearer £10m, doubling the LWaRB’s investment.
Johnson said: “As the world meets to discuss climate change, London is taking practical action to tackle all aspects of waste that damages our environment.
“It is common sense that, as well as investing in the infrastructure to processes the capital’s waste, we must also encourage Londoners to recycle as much as possible or re-use items that could just get chucked away. The Recycle for London campaign is designed to achieve this working hand in hand with borough councils.”
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