Shanks Signs Long-Term Contract to Produce RDF

The U.K.-based firm Shanks Group has signed a 25-year contract with the Wakefield, U.K., Council that could be worth £750 million ($1.2 billion).

Under the contract, Shanks will build a residual waste treatment facility at South Kirkby, U.K., which will employ processes to treat and recycle waste from the Wakefield District. The facility will process up to 230,000 metric tons per year of municipal solid waste. Shanks says that under the project the Wakefield authority could realize a landfill diversion rate of close to 90 percent.

The contract has been funded by the UK Green Investment Bank, Barclays, Bavern LB and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Through the Shanks project, materials delivered to the facility will be converted into a refuse derived fuel, which will be processed at a multi-fuel plant being built at the Ferrybridge Power Station for energy recovery. A separate materials recycling facility will separate and process all recyclables.

The remaining organic waste will be treated using an autoclave, which has been built. The process will sterilize the remaining material before it is fed into a 65,000-metric-tons-per-year anaerobic digestion plant, where it will be converted into biogas for renewable energy generation.

The contract also will allow Shanks to take over a network of household waste recycling centers and transfer stations in the Wakefield District.

Peter Dilnot, Shanks CEO, says, “We are delighted to have signed this contract with Wakefield Council and look forward to working with the authority and local residents to increase their diversion from landfill. Our solution will help them make more from the waste they produce by increasing recycling, generating green energy and producing compost for land remediation and use by residents.

“We are excited that the Green Investment Bank has chosen this project as one of its first major investments, which will see Shanks draw on experience from across our Group to deliver a genuinely sustainable solution,” Dilnot adds.

Shanks Group plc is a waste management firm that has operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, United Kingdom and Canada. The company provides recycling and energy recovery solutions to customers in both the public and private sector.