The problems of waste and the environment are well-reported and growing. Issues around the hazardous by-products of landfills and the alarming problems arising from single-use plastics, clothing over-consumption and the difficult disposal of coffee cups have schools, communities, businesses and entrepreneurs striving to find innovations and strategies that will help improve how we treat our planet.
Over Rabbit’s 31-year history, we’ve continually innovated to help waste management in the UK. Back in 1996, we started to roughly sort recyclable content to minimise what we were sending to landfill. And we’ve continued to innovate further, with the introduction of our £0.5m sorting plant in 1999 which was then replaced in 2007 with the automated recycling plant to coincide with the opening of our Energy from Waste power plant.
What happens when a skip is returned to Rabbit?
When a full skip is collected from a home, business or building site, its contents are sorted to recycle as much material as possible and reduce waste destined for landfills. The process happens in three simple steps:
- All waste collected by Rabbit is processed through a fully automated materials recovery facility to remove all recyclable materials. Soil, bricks and hardcore go to the construction and aggregate industries, metals are sent directly to metal merchants and plastics are sent to specialist plastic pre-processors.
- The remaining, non-recyclable, materials are finely shredded and screened to remove any additional metals before being burned to generate super-heated steam which drives high-pressure turbines that drive a generator to produce up to 5 megawatts of green electricity.
- The exhaust from the combustors is treated through a cooling process and filter plant, with all emissions being maintained below permitted levels and monitored 24/7. Even the ash produced is recycled into aggregate.
The environmental benefits of Rabbit’s Energy From Waste
The Energy from Waste process helps Rabbit customers achieve a near-zero landfill waste service. The technology is superior to traditional mass-burn incineration processes because it produces significantly more energy – enough green electricity for around 8,000 homes. But it’s not just that. By reducing dependency on landfills by maximising recycling and incineration, there’s also a reduction of vehicle generated emissions from transporting waste to the nearest landfill in Redhill, Surrey.
Contact Rabbit today for more information about recycling, skip hire and plant hire. Reach us on 01903 762020 or email info@rabbitgroup.co.uk.
