Mechanical & Biological Treatment

Mechanical & Biological Treatment (MBT) offers an alternative to landfill which is both more environmentally sound and more sustainable. MBT maximises the extraction of recyclate and other products and ensures that material to landfill is minimised as well as biologically stabilised.

Yorwaste has invested in an MBT plant at its integrated waste management facility at Seamer Carr, near Scarborough.

The company is receiving Defra funding of just under £4m to put towards the installation of an advanced thermal treatment process, which will work alongside two existing processes at Seamer Carr, a waste separation system and an in-vessel composting system.

The combined technologies would result in the recovery of the maximum possible value from mixed household waste, which is normally notoriously difficult to separate.

The company is also currently seeking planning permission to carry out a trial at a site in Selby, which would involve the use of in-vessel composting to compost biodegradable municipal waste.

If this trial is successful, in the longer term, it could result in much more biodegradable municipal waste being diverted away from landfill.