In Great Britain waste collection authorities are required to collect, recovery and recycle household waste in addition to commercial and industrial waste. One approach to treating and disposing of waste is utilising energy from waste (EfW) facilities, transforming the waste into electricity & heat. Feedstock for EfW plants is largely non-recyclable household and commercial/ industrial waste (residual ‘black bin’ waste or Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF)) and recyclable materials including glass, plastic and paper.
In the latest BDS Directory for Energy for Waste sites BDS identify ~80 operational Energy from Waste (EfW) sites. The directory, published for purchase, includes a mixture of national, regional and local companies and includes site details, operating company, site address, capacity and status. The Directory is valuable to waste companies seeking to identify potential destinations for collected waste streams as well as providing the ability to monitor competitor activity and industry capacity. In addition to the EfW Directory BDS also offer interested parties access to planning information for all waste sites across Great Britain. This helps to highlight both current site activity and potential new sites submitted for planning consideration.
Some of the EfW plant activity in Great Britain, identified by BDS over the last couple of months, include:
- Three new, large waste facilities are moving towards full operation:
- August 2026 – Protos Energy Recovery Facility, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire received its first 2,500 tonnes of residual waste as part of the hot commissioning process. Once fully operational the site is expected to receive 500,000 tonnes of waste annually for processing.
- July 2026 – Enfinium’s Kelvin Energy from Waste facility, Sandwell, West Midlands received its first 100 tonnes of residual waste from Suez. The site is anticipated to be operational in late 2026 with the aim to process ~350,000 tonnes of unrecyclable waste annually.
- June 2026 – Indaver officially opened the Rivenhall Energy from Waste facility, Essex. The £589 million plant has a capacity to produce 595,000 tonnes of waste annually.
- August 2026 – Cory Group, have been granted an environmental permit for the Riverside Energy from Waste plant as part of the Cory Decarbonisation Project. Carbon capture technology will be installed at two plants to produce renewable electricity.
- Two new Energy from Waste plants are currently being constructed in Great Britain. The first, a site in Tilbury, Essex is due to open in 2028 to process ~ 300,000 tonnes of non recyclable waste and the second, a site in Walsall, West Midlands, due to open in 2027 to process in ~480,000 tonnes of waste.
For more updates for the waste sector or to find out more about EfW sites in Great Britain, please visit the BDS website or email contact@bdsmarketing.co.uk for more information.