Decarbonising our waste
Viridor’s Roadmap to carbon neutral and net negative emissions.
We are playing a leading role in transforming the waste sector
Tackling climate change is the defining issue of our generation. It demands action across every area of the economy, with no business able to ignore their responsibility to act. Future generations will judge us on the decisions we make now – there is no time to lose. The waste sector is no exception.
Our five step decarbonisation plan
Step 1. Core Operations
01Step 1. Core Operations
Reduce direct emissions from all our core operations.
Buildings and infrastructure – through committing to sustainable and low carbon construction for new build projects; maximising self-sufficiency of power and heat where viable and driving the energy efficiency of all infrastructure including offices.
Transport – through decarbonising our logistics fleet as well as the ‘yellow plant’ vehicles at our sites; introducing smarter working to reduce our travel requirements; and developing and delivering solutions to eliminate shipping of waste overseas.
Step 2. Maximising Recycling
02Step 2. Maximising Recycling
In one tonne of waste approximately 16% of plastic material accounts for 70% of the anthropogenic footprint.
Viridor is exploring ways to extract material – such as plastics and textile - and consider other processes for its use. In the longer-term we hope to supply material for application by novel technologies that use these materials to make new products.
Step 3. Carbon Capture
03Step 3. Carbon Capture
Capture and store carbon emissions from our strategic sites.
Steps 1 and 2 will maximise reprocessing and removal of residual fossil content – making the most of the waste resources we have. However, this alone will not take the waste sector to carbon neutral emissions and we must therefore go much further.
Based on currently available technology and the Government’s planned roll-out of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), we believe that by 2035 it should be possible to have implemented CCS at four of our key EfW operations. Achieving carbon neutral operations across these sites will capture 1.6MtCO2.
Click here to find out more about our Runcorn CCS project.
Step 4. Negative Emissions & Carbon Usage
04Step 4. Negative Emissions & Carbon Usage
Expanding carbon capture to all our sites will take Viridor to net negative emissions, with the potential to capture over 1 million tonnes of biogenic CO2. As a result, the energy we generate will be net negative emissions.
To reduce our reliance on CCS infrastructure and ensure that we continue to progress our vision of a world where nothing goes to waste, CCS will be limited to our strategic sites close to relevant UK facilities: our remaining net negative drive will be through CCU. We will invest in CCU technologies and pilots.
Step 5. Clean Heat
05Step 5. Clean Heat
Supply more homes and businesses with clean heat.
Decarbonising heat is one of the most challenging aspects of the domestic energy decarbonisation agenda, and we want our clean heat to be used to full effect.
We have agreed a partnership with Vattenfall to explore heat networks that our EfWs can supply and we are keen to do more. With a reliable supply of baseload clean heat, Viridor will be a catalyst for decarbonising our communities.
Carbon Capture: A Waste(d) Opportunity
Energy from Waste with Carbon Capture provides the only domestic pathway to delivering the 2035 Carbon Dioxide Removals target, essential for industrial decarbonisation and critical to the achievement of the UK's net zero commitment.
The UK Government is legally bound to deliver net zero across the whole economy by 2050 but ‘hard to abate’ emissions from key industries could jeopardise net zero. Residual emissions in ‘hard to abate’ sectors will need balancing through Carbon Dioxide Removals with at least 45 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Removals per year calculated as needed to meet any net zero pathway by the Climate Change Committee. EfW with CCS is critical to delivering Carbon Dioxide Removals and the 2035 Carbon Dioxide Removal target is unachievable without EfW with CCS.
Additionally, UK EfW with CCS represents the only durable source of entirely domestically fuelled, engineered Carbon Dioxide Removals. By 2035 the EfW sector could deliver up to 6 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide Removals per year, more than enough to balance the fossil emissions of a clean power grid. By 2050, the EfW sector could deliver up to 10.6 million tonnes per year, enough to balance all the emissions from Gatwick, Manchester, Stansted and Luton airports and deliver over 20% of the Climate Change Committee’s minimum requirements.
Find out more
Energy from waste can play a leading role in the UK’s decarbonisation efforts
Research by environmental consultancy Eunomia in 2021 found that the waste sector could help meet half of the UK Government's target by using CCS technology.
Research by ERM, the world’s largest specialist sustainability consultancy, shows how Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) in the UK’s Energy from Waste (EfW) sector could be a game-changer in the drive to carbon neutrality.
