Channel 5 ‘Secret World of Rubbish’ profiles – FCC Environment’s Eastcroft Energy from Waste plant
14/08/2020
Channel 5’s ‘The Secret World of Your Rubbish’ has shone its spotlight on FCC Environment’s Energy from Waste (EfW) facility at Eastcroft in Nottinghamshire.
Eastcroft EfW featured in the latest programme – episode three, season two – of the TV series, which aired at 8pm on Thursday, 13 August.
The popular documentary shares stories about people working in the front line of waste management. FCC Environment’s Alan Palmer, shift plant operator, and Paul Brown, weighbridge operator, both played a star turn in last night’s programme. They showcased how the Eastcroft facility processes 180,000 tonnes of waste each year – equivalent to the weight of 12,500 double decker buses – extracting value from waste that cannot be recycled as one of the few environmentally-friendly alternatives to landfill.
Working in partnership with Nottingham City Council, FCC Environment has operated Eastcroft EfW since 1998. Since it started in 1973, the plant has played a key role in managing waste while providing sustainable green energy to replace fossil fuel energy. Eastcroft produces around 250,000 MWh of low-carbon energy per year, enough to power and heat 4,800 local homes and businesses across Nottingham.
Nottingham City Council’s Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Energy and Environment, Cllr Sally Longford, said: “We’re really proud that Nottingham’s household waste provides heat and electricity for thousands of Nottingham homes and businesses, and drastically reduces our reliance on landfill.
“The incinerator and district heating system have been part of Nottingham for so long, they’re taken for granted, but hopefully this programme has given people an insight into what goes on behind the scenes and an appreciation of how it contributes to Nottingham’s carbon neutral ambitions.”
The City and County councils make kerbside collections of non-recyclable waste from local homes and businesses on a daily basis and transfer it to the Eastcroft facility. Each delivery contains between seven and eight tonnes of waste and there are around 100 deliveries every day.
The Eastcroft team processes the waste 24 hours per day, 365 days a year – stopping only for an annual plant maintenance overhaul. The energy released from the waste produces over 300,000 MWh of steam energy each year, which is transferred via pipeline to a nearby heat station and processed to produce electrical energy and hot water to supply the district heating scheme.
The Eastcroft EfW plant is one of six facilities of its kind that FCC Environment operates. To learn more about FCC Environment and its energy from waste offer, please visit https://www.fccenvironment.co.uk/green-energy/
Episode three, season two of ‘The Secret World of Your Rubbish’ is available to view on ‘Watch Now My5’ at: https://www.channel5.com/show/the-secret-world-of-your-rubbish/.