One of Envirocomp's AHP composting facilities in New Zealand
New Zealand company Envirocomp (owned by OCS) has announced that it will open the UK’s ‘first absorbent hygiene product (AHP) composting plant’ in Rochester in ‘autumn’.
The news comes just days after Knowaste annouced that it was closing its West Bromwich AHP recycling plant – the only one able to process used AHP products in the UK – with ‘immediate effect’, sending many councils who rely on the plant for their AHP collection services into ‘disarray’.
Envirocomp has said that there are ‘no present plans to open the facility to municipal waste’, but a spokesperson told Resource that it may eventually be extended to council use.
Based in an ‘existing waste facility’, commercial customers in South East England will have the option of composting all types of AHP waste, such as nappies, feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products. It is estimated that the plant will be able to process around 6.5 million AHP products a year.
Unlike Knowaste’s pulping and recycling technology, Envirocomp uses HotRot composting technology to ‘provide a more sustainable alternative to landfill and incineration, and [help] towards national targets to reduce landfill and ultimately create a zero-waste economy’.
The facility will see post-consumer AHPs processed by HotRot Organic Solutions’s ‘fully enclosed continuous HotRot in-vessel composting technology specialising in difficult to treat organic waste with zero leachate and an OdourFree Guarantee(TM)’.
The process was developed by husband and wife Karl and Karen Upston and has been utilised in the company’s two other AHP plants in Canterbury and Wellington, New Zealand.
Envirocomp’s Director Andy Band said: “We are delighted to announce the setting up of the first UK Envirocomp following our success in New Zealand.
“As a proven process it will offer a real alternative for companies in the region who wish to avail of a fully environmentally-friendly solution to their waste management. We anticipate bringing Envirocomp plants to other parts of the UK in the near future."
Cecil Ryan, OCS Regional Managing Director, Europe added: “This is a real breakthrough and a first for the UK. Composting marks a step-change in the disposal of nappy waste and we’re delighted to be bringing this environmentally-friendly solution to this country.”
The news has been welcomed by local councils, with Paul Quayle, Welsh representative for the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) and Waste Education and Awareness Officer at Monmouthshire County Council telling Resource: "LARAC is always interested in developing technologies and, following the closure of the Knowaste Facility, alternatives to landfilling nappies and other absorbent hygiene products is high on our agenda. We are interested in any solution and the Envirocomp composting facility is certainly one we would wish to look at in detail, when the plant opens later this year, to see if it offers an option for Local Authority collections."
Read more about Envirocomp’s nappy composting technology.
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