fo h
In S
r t
he en
n
ac d
io
Te Stu
d
at t
an
r m ee
‘Rubbish’ facts and figures
about Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester in General
•
Greater Manchester produces around 1,100,000 tonnes of waste every year.
•
In 2009/10, 33.79% of Greater Manchester’s waste was recycled or composted.
•
Our target is to recycle or compost at least 50% of Greater Manchester’s
waste by 2020.
The recycling rates vary from district to district. The recycling rates for the 9 individual
districts of Greater Manchester for 2009/10 are:
District
Bolton
Bury
Manchester
Oldham
Rochdale
Salford
Stockport
Tameside
Trafford
Recycling rates
29.09%
27.81%
18.82%
36.65%
33.02%
32.17%
41.45%
33.71%
44.44%
Materials Recycling Facility (MRF)
•
1400 tonnes of recycling arrives at the MRF every week.
•
At least 95% of the material that arrives at the MRF is recycled.
•
No more than 5% of the material that arrives at the MRF is sent for
energy recovery.
•
70% (by weight) of the material that arrives is glass.
•
12-15% (by weight) of the material that arrives is plastic bottles.
•
10-12% (by weight) of the material that arrives is steel cans.
•
2.5% (by weight) of the materials that arrives is aluminium cans.
Page 1
Bolton Thermal Recovery Facility (TRF)
•
125,000 tonnes of waste goes into the TRF every year.
•
12 grabs full of waste are put into the furnace each hour.
•
Each grab contains approximately 1 tonne of waste.
•
The TRF produces around 9MW of electricity.
•
Approximately 2MW is used by the plant.
•
Approximately 7MW is exported to the national grid.
•
7MW is enough energy for around 7,000 homes.
•
The furnace must reach at least 850ªC but actually is usually over 1000ªC.
•
Only 22% of the original amount of waste left as ash.
•
We only incinerate (burn) about 9% of our waste in the UK. Other European
countries have higher recycling rates and incinerate more. For example:
• Belgium 34%
• Netherlands 38%
• Germany 35%
Pilsworth Landfill Site
•
Approximately 75,000 tonnes of Greater Manchester’s waste is sent to
Pilsworth each year.
•
Each day around 200 trucks bring waste to the site.
•
The large trucks carrying household waste carry around 20 tonnes.
•
The average customer pays £16 per tonne for waste to be landfilled.
•
The customers must pay landfill tax on top of the fee charged by the site.
In 2011 the landfill tax is £56 per tonne.
•
Landfill tax will rise by £8 per year until 2014. It will rise to £64 per tonne in
April 2012, £72 per tonne in April 2013 and £80 per tonne in 2014.
•
The gas engines produce around 7MW of electricity enough for 7000 homes.
•
Each engine earns about £2500 per day from the electricity sold.
In Vessel Composting
•
It takes 14 days for the garden and food waste to turn into compost.
•
It takes 6 weeks for the compost to mature.
•
The compost must reach a temperature of at least 65°C to sterilise it.
Nappies
•
A baby uses around 5000 nappies.
•
A class of 30 children would use 150,000 nappies.
Page 2
Try this rather difficult
rubbish maths mini quiz!
1. If we produce 1,100,000 tonnes of rubbish each year in
Greater Manchester and we recycle or compost 33.79%
how many tonnes do we:
a) Recycle or compost?
b) Not recycle or compost?
2. Each grab full of waste at the TRF weighs around 1 tonne
and each hour 12 grabs of waste are put in the furnace.
How many tonnes go into the furnace in 4 hours?
3. If a truck with 15 tonnes of waste arrives at the landfill site
and has to pay £15 for each tonne in fees plus £56 per
tonne landfill tax, how much does it cost?
4. If it takes 14 days for garden and food waste to turn into
compost and a further 6 weeks until it is mature, how
many weeks does it take from start to finish?
5. 1400 tonnes of recycling arrive at the MRF each week,
of which around 2.5% by weight is aluminium cans.
What weight of aluminium cans is recycled each week?
Page 3