Energy from waste

Energy from waste is the combustion of waste under controlled conditions in which the heat released is recovered for a beneficial purpose. This may be to provide steam or hot water for industrial or domestic users, or for electricity generation.

Your local council’s refuse collection vehicles pick up household waste that is not able to be recycled from outside people's homes.

The waste from some District and Borough Council’s in Nottinghamshire and waste from Nottingham City is taken to an Energy from Waste plant at Eastcroft in the City. The refuse collection vehicles tip the waste into a storage bunker. From here it is fed into the furnace of the incinerator.

As the waste is burnt at a very high temperature, a lot of heat and gases are given off. The gases are cleaned using filters before being discharged into the atmosphere. The heat is used to turn water in pipes surrounding the furnace into steam.  The steam is used to drive generators that produce electricity. Some of the heat is used to heat the Victoria Centre, the Broadmarsh Centre, the Meadows housing estate and the remainder of the electricity is passed into the National Grid through cables.