Crisp packets to help ‘fuel cement works’

Alternative fuel facility approval at Cauldon site near Waterhouses

- By Kerry Ashdown

A Google Street View of the entrance to the Cauldon Cement Works.

A “NATIONALLY significant” cement plant in the Staffordshire Moorlands can now be fuelled by a 100% solid fuel mix including old crisp packets and other plastics that would otherwise end up in landfill.

Approval was previously granted five years ago for an alternative fuel facility at Cauldon Cement Works, to enable the site near Waterhouses to move from using coal and used motor vehicle tyre chips to “waste-derived fuels” to cut carbon emissions.

The fuel mix permitted by Staffordshire County Council in 2020was 68% solids and 32% liquid. But a request made by Geocycle UK Ltd to revise the feedstock mix to 100% solid fuel has now been granted by the county council's planning committee.

A report to the committee said: “Geocycle UK Ltd manage the operations at the alternative fuel storage and feed system ancillary to the existing Cauldon cement works operated by Lafarge Cauldon Limited. The buildings and infrastructure relating to the delivery, storage, and transfer of solid fuels (Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF) and Waste Derived Fuels (WDEF)) to the main cement plant have been constructed and are operational.

“Solid Recovered Fuels (SRF) and Waste /Refuse Derived Fuels (WDF) typically consist of non-recyclable soft plastics such as crisp packets, and plastics with a high calorific content that would otherwise end up in landfill. Other refuse derived materials such as paper, card, wood, and textiles can also be recovered for their use in kiln firing.