Of the planned 150000 tons of waste to be burned at the plant what is the expected weight of burnt residue and where will it be deposited? What is the maximum capacity of the site and if it is greater than 150,000 tons will you apply for a higher capacity if so, how much greater?

Approximately 25% of the input waste will be converted to incinerator bottom ash (IBA).  IBA is a non hazardous material that can be recycled and re-used within the construction industry.

The Buttington ERF has been designed to accept up to 166,500 tonnes per year of non-hazardous, residual waste.  In reality the plant will actually accept around 150,000 tonnes per annum.  The difference in the figures is based on the difference between the maximum design capacity and what is operationally possible.  The Buttington ERF has been designed to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at a maximum throughput of 18.95 tonnes per hour.  Based on 8760 hours in a year, this would give a maximum throughput of 166,002 tonnes per annum (or 166,456.8 tonnes in a leap year).  However, installations such as that proposed do not operate 8760 hours a year as there are always maintenance periods, hence most installations work on the basis of 7900 hours per year to give a throughput of 149,705 tonnes per annum.

For the purposes of this ES and the Development of National Significance (“DNS”) application, a maximum parameter figure for the throughput of the Installation must be fixed for assessment purposed to ensure the most accurate assessment of impacts.  Accordingly, a figure of 167,000 tonnes per annum will be used on a precautionary basis for the throughput for assessments such as the Transport Assessment to enable a “worst case” approach to be assessed.