The Energy from Waste plant is set to play a bigger role in the island’s waste management for the next decade.
A new government strategy says the plant last year produced 25,500 megawatt-hours or 10% of the island’s electrical energy supply.
It said the EfW plant is “a strategically important asset” that has been “traditionally underutilised.”
The government is committing to operating the primary incinerator “until at least 2039” and will “take steps to ensure that the facility is maximised to produce as much green energy as possible”.
Streams
The work will involve directing more appropriate on-island waste streams to the plant and burning materials from the island’s plantations.
The push to maximise the EfW plant forms part of a wider vision for the Isle of Man to be “as self-sufficient as possible in managing our waste”.
However, the strategy also highlights a tension with recycling efforts, acknowledging that for some materials, “producing energy for the island through the Energy from Waste facility and displacing the use of fossil fuels in some cases may be the best outcome”.
Alongside extending the plant’s life, the strategy includes developing an on-island process to recycle incinerator bottom ash for use in construction, moving away from current landfill disposal.