ENDS Industry report suggests new regulatory developments in waste export and landfill taxes in 2025 may provide the final impetus for the project that has been stuck in the NI planning system for over 10 years.
Leading European waste sectoral analysts ENDS Waste & Bioenergy (EWB) which covers the European and international waste and bioenergy industries, has rated the long-running arc21/Becon residual waste project as number 2 in its top ten Energy from Waste (EfW) projects most likely to progress in 2025 . It is the only project outside of England that features in its UK Top Ten, which reflects the relative maturity and scale of the GB market where currently there are 58 EfW plants in operation and 14 more under construction compared to Northern Ireland. There are another 15 in either the planning or funding phase in GB. The rating accorded by EWB also reflects the fact that the project has been designed specifically to meet the needs of six of Northern Ireland’s largest councils and to address a clear capacity gap in the Northern Ireland energy recovery market to manage NI residual household waste in a sustainable manner.
As capacity for the disposal of active wastes in the remaining Northern Ireland landfill sites reduces and more stringent circular economy targets kick-in to move away from the landfill of residual waste, Northern Ireland is now having to rely on increased waste export of its non-recyclable waste to Europe, where it fuels Energy from Waste plants there. This unsustainable practice is due to the lack of local integrated waste infrastructure in Northern Ireland, such as that proposed for the arc21 councils, and brings with increased risks over environmental, reputational and economic costs into the future.
The ENDS report highlights that the arc21 project has been caught up in Northern Ireland’s ‘most-recent political vacuum’ and yet acknowledges that it has been backed by professional planners to receive planning permission and move to construction four times so far within the last 10 years. It notes that ‘As more stability has returned to the country politically, the focus, as it has been around the UK, has not been on waste.’ It does however suggest that NI decision makers may finally have to turn their attention to this important area in 2025 and cites potential market and regulatory changes which may provide the impetus for a positive planning decision next year. It states ‘However, the looming inclusion of EfW [and shipping] in the UK emissions trading scheme could make exports from Northern Ireland to England [and other European locations it has to be said] more costly, while increasing landfill costs could finally push the button on the facility…’
Welcoming the inclusion of the project in the Top Ten listing, Colin O’Hanlon at Indaver, the European waste management company aiming to build and operate the proposed arc21 residual waste project said;
“The need for more modern integrated waste infrastructure locally has been long recognised in various waste policies and strategies going back many years. We hope, as the ENDS report indicates, that in 2025, we will be in a position to receive a robust and evidence-based planning decision which will allow this important project to proceed to the next important stage of procurement, where councils will then be in a position to evaluate the strategic business case and consider how it helps meet their future waste management needs.
“In our estimation the project is needed even more now than when it was first conceived over 10 years ago, and Indaver stands ready to deliver a modern and bespoke solution which will help arc21 councils meet their obligations now and into the future. As ENDS highlights the changing regulatory and market landscape is likely to mean that the export of waste will become more difficult and increasingly expensive option for Northern Ireland. This at time when landfill costs are also due to increase significantly by 21.5% in April 2025.
“Local councils will therefore have to consider the risks and costs of both landfill and the increased export of this type of waste for energy recovery elsewhere, where they would remain subject to the vagaries and volatility of European waste markets. Due to the foresight of arc21, uniquely the waste treatment facilities proposed at Hightown Quarry mitigate the exposure to other regulatory changes such as the inclusion of Energy from Waste and shipping in the Emissions Trading Scheme, which will likely mean more costs for councils to bear. By having pre-treatment to remove fossil carbon and the ability to adopt and retrofit emerging carbon capture technologies the arc21 project has a distinct environmental and economic benefit over both waste export to Europe or the UK and landfill.
“Against this backdrop there is simply no feasible or sustainable alternative to the Becon project if arc21 councils and NI as a whole are to meet their waste obligations.”