Displaying items by tag: Import

Finland: Norway-based Geminor inaugurated a new 150,000t/yr refuse-derived fuel (RDF) import facility at the Kilke Material Recycling Centre near Helsinki on 30 November 2023. The site is Geminor’s third such facility in Finland.

Country Manager Ismo Hiltunen said “Due to, among other things, lower activity in the construction industry, RDF fractions have become a scarce commodity in Finland.” He continued “After Finland became an import market for secondary fuels, the market has struggled to find processing sites for imported waste in Finland, a challenge this facility will now help to solve. The capacity of 150,000t/yr means that we could import up to 80% of Finland's current total RDF imports via this hub alone.”

Ireland: A court has ruled that the Irish government need not pay legal costs for Environmental Trust Ireland president Michelle Hayes' challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in mid-2022. Hayes unsuccessfully sued the EPA for issuing Irish Cement with a licence to use alternative fuel (AF) at its Limerick cement plant in May 2021. The AF will comprise up to 90,000t/yr of waste tyres, biomass and/or mining by-products.

At the costs hearing, the court noted that Hayes had already caused the EPA to incur 'very significant' legal costs. The court said that Hayes 'sought to have the taxpayer pay even more.' It added that, as a solicitor at Hayes Solicitors Limerick, which represented her in her unsuccessful challenge, Hayes stood to effectively benefit from any recuperated costs. The court concluded "It would mean that legal practitioners like herself are paid by the taxpayer for bringing environmental litigation which is unmeritorious."

New Zealand: Fletcher Building subsidiary Golden Bay Cement has co-processed 80,000t of waste in production of its EcoSure reduced-CO₂ general-purpose cement at its Golden Bay, Whangarei, cement plant. The plant has achieved a coal substitution rate of 50%. It has processed various waste streams, including 3 million used tyres. EcoSure cement generates CO₂ emissions of 699kg/t of product, 20% less than its imported alternatives, according to Golden Bay Cement. Fletcher building CEO Nick Traber said that this figure is 'simply our starting point.' The company's next target is to achieve a 30% CO₂ reduction by 2030.

Traber said "We needed to think outside the box, or rather the cement bag, to be more precise. The challenge was around what enhancements we could make to our manufacturing processes at our Golden Bay cement works in to improve the plant's sustainability. We quickly realised that consuming used tyres and wood waste as alternative fuels was a win-win. When we started with the idea in 2015, we were aiming to replace 15% of coal with end-of-life tyres. Fast forward to 2022, and our rate of coal substitution is now at 50%, which has obviously delivered further reductions in carbon emissions, as well as helping to offset increased coal costs."

Norway: Geminor processed 67% of waste that it handled in 2021 into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF). The company said that the figure represents a 3% decline from 2020 levels. It handled a total of 1.73Mt of waste in nine European countries in 2021.

CEO Kjetil Vikingstad said “The Covid year 2021 has been another challenging year for the European waste industry in terms of volumes, logistics, transport and varying market mechanisms. The RDF market, in particular, has differed with lower volumes in circulation due to reduced exports from countries such as the UK and Finland. At the same time, other countries - such as Poland, Denmark, and Italy - have experienced growth, which has helped obtain a balance in the market.”

UK: Alternative fuels producer Andusia has said that the coronavirus has yet to impact upon the trade of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in and out of Europe. It says it is monitoring the situation and will keep customers updated. “No change to service is anticipated,” said Andusia. “There are no border restrictions to trade and it is business as usual.”

India: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has lobbied the government in its Pre-Budget Memorandum 2020-21 over customs duties. The body is suggesting a reduction on the customs duty on tyre chips for use as alternative fuel (AF) to 5% from 10%. There is currently no import tax on cement and duties of 5% and below on various clinker constituents.

Netherlands: Waste management service N+P has said that it will aim to supply 1.2Mt of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to UK recipients expected to include cement producers. It will release full details of the contracts in question in early 2020. N+P said that due to import tax it would seek to supply its Netherlands contracts with waste from sources other than the UK.

Ethiopia: The Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Chemicals and Construction Inputs Industry Development Institute are working with cement producers to replace imported coal with biomas in a bid to lower carbon CO2 and reduce reliance on foreign currency. The institute has conducted a feasibility study, with the support of the Global Climate Fund and the European Union, studying using a weed, Prophecies Newfora, as potential biomass, according to the Reporter newspaper. Plants run by Dangote Cement and Habesha Cement factories took part in the study. The government is also encouraging cement producers to use locally mined coal until the biomass project becomes fully operational.

Netherlands/UK: The RDF Industry Group has criticised a new tax proposal by the Dutch government on waste imports as part of its National Climate Agreement. The government wants to impose a tariff of Euro32/t on imported refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from the start of January 2020. It also wants to add a CO₂ tax of Euro30/t on industrial emitters from the start of 2021. The group says that, whilst it welcomes moves towards reducing CO₂ emissions, it believes the proposed Dutch taxes, in their current form, will be counterproductive in achieving this goal.

“RDF export forms a vital and flexible part of the UK’s waste management system, supporting over 6800 additional jobs in the UK, and saving over 700,000 tonnes CO₂ emissions annually. The Netherlands is the largest importer of UK waste, receiving 1.3Mt of RDF from the UK in 2018, powering good quality, efficient treatment facilities, many of which utilise heat offtake as well as electricity. The introduction of an import tax risks more waste going to landfill in the UK each year, disregarding the waste hierarchy, worsening the environmental impact, increasing costs and putting jobs at risk. Furthermore, given the large proportion of waste to Dutch incinerators that comes from the UK, there is also a risk of plant closures, and job losses in the Netherlands,” said Robert Corijn, chair of the RDF Industry Group.

The RDF Industry Group says it has raised its concerns with Dutch Parliamentary representatives.

Philippines: Holcim Philippines has conducted media tours of its Lugait cement plant in Misamis Oriental to raise awareness of its import of processed engineered fuels (PEF) from Australia. In May 2019 containers from Australia arrived at the Mindanao International Container Terminal in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, but were reported as misdeclared by the Bureau of Customs, according to the Sun Star newspaper. However, Frederic Vallat, Holcim Philippines' vice-president for Alternative Fuels and Alternative raw material and head of Geocycle, said that the Tariff Commission had classified the shipment as PEF in early June 2019. The Environmental Management Bureau also notified the Bureau of Customs that it had no objection to imports of PEF.

The PEF shipment was described as, "a plastic based fluffy fuel with high calorific value consisting by weight, 75 – 85% flexible plastics, paper and natural and hydrocarbon based fibre, 7 – 15% hard plastics, 1 – 5% wood and < 1 – 5% non-combustible inert material in the form of solid flakes (range of particle sizes less than 50 mm), mixed colours with natural odour." It added that the PEF has a gross calorific value of 5700 - 7200kcal/kg, 15% ash content, 20% moisture, 1.5% sulphur and 1% chlorine. It is sourced from municipal wastes such as plastics, rubber, wood, paper, textiles, glass, metals, food materials, broken furniture, and other damaged or discarded articles.

Vallat said that at present, Holcim Philippines has stopped the import of PEF from Australia. They are now in dialogue with the Bureau of Customs over the issue. The company would like to import PEF locally but it was only able to source 7000t in 2018 and its plant needs up to 60,000t/yr.