Riverside Resource Recovery Facility

Image: © Glyn Baker Taken: 3 Jul 2014

This incinerator operated by Cory Waste is capable of producing 478 GWh of electricity per year consuming over 500,000 metric tonnes of London’s waste much of which would once have ended up at Image Local waste comes by road and rubbish from more distant boroughs by river to Image see Image Many people who are concerned about the environment (myself included) worry about the production of dioxins in facilities such as this. This problem seems to have been addressed in this modern plant. The furnaces are designed so that the waste is “drip fed” into the fire so the temperature is always at the correct level to destroy these harmful chemicals. At start up and shutdown the plant runs on fuel oil to ensure the furnace is always at optimum temperature while there is waste in the system. The combustion products and any dioxins that re-form after the flue gasses cool are cleaned from the exhaust using Image The operators say that environmental monitoring has shown that the dioxin levels in the surrounding area have actually fallen from the baseline levels measured before the plant started operating. One has to assume this is due to the closure of some other industrial plants in the area. Take a mini tour of the plant by following the links from Image

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