The Sustainable Resource Forum is hosting an online roundtable following our report on energy from waste in the UK, No Time To Waste.

The second in a series of three, the discussion will focus on potential outputs from energy from waste, including waste heat, carbon emissions, and potential landfill use and exported waste if the technology is not utilised. Chaired by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering, participants will have opportunity to discuss updated recommendations for energy from waste policy.

Guiding questions include:

A role for waste heat

• What further policy strategy is required from government for energy from waste (EfW) to be effectively deployed?
• How can waste heat be delivered at scale? What infrastructure currently exists for this and what further infrastructure is required?
• What are the key opportunities for carbon offsetting using waste heat? What hard-to-decarbonise sectors should be prioritised?
• How can plastics be eliminated from the residual waste stream? Will DRS and EPR initiatives significantly reduce carbon emissions from EfW?

Carbon emissions

• How can plastics be eliminated from the residual waste stream? Will DRS and EPR initiatives sufficiently reduce carbon emissions from EfW?
• How can CCUS best be utilised to reduce carbon emissions from EfW?

Managing the UK's waste

• To what extent has the recommendation that UK waste should no longer be shipped abroad been taken up by government? What are the implications of Greenpeace’s recent report on plastic exports for the future of EfW?
• Can a circular economy in the UK be achieved without EfW? If so, how?

For any questions, please contact verity.winn [at] policyconnect.org.uk (Verity Winn).