Recycling Lives’ innovative Energy From Waste work awarded

A“game-changing” solution to creating Energy from Waste at a Preston recycling business has been handed a top award.

Recycling Lives has been working in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) to develop a solution to avoid sending waste residue from the recycling process to landfill, instead turning it into electrical energy.

The study won the Most Innovative Contribution to Business-University Collaboration award at The Times Higher Education Awards on November 29. The awards, nicknamed the ‘Oscars of the Higher Education’, recognise outstanding contributions in higher education.

Chemical engineer Dr Ala Khodier has been working for Recycling Lives for two years on the project to reduce waste to landfill and increase recycle rates.

He said:

I am incredibly honoured that our work has been recognised at such a high level. These findings are the result of a perfect partnership between Recycling Lives and UCLan, exploring how we can achieve best in class recycling processes.

Chemical engineer Dr Ala Khodier

Prof Karl Williams, Director of the Centre for Waste Management at UCLan, added: “I feel honoured that we have won this award as it recognises the hard work that both UCLan and Recycling Lives have put in over the years to creating this long-term collaboration.”

Recycling Lives recycles around 100,000 scrap cars annually through its industry-leading machinery at its Preston-based Recycling Park.

Its processes allow for millions of tonnes of recycled metals and plastics to be returned to the market but also creates up to 1.2million tonnes of auto-shredder residue which could not previously be recycled or reused.

Now the study has developed a method of transforming the residue into a saleable product and electrical energy, to create a closed-loop recycling solution at the Recycling Park. Dr Khodier has also found metals retained in the residue that can be extracted and returned to the market, boosting recycling rates.

Once fully developed it is anticipated the solution will save Recycling Lives more than £1m annually while generating around 1,000 MW of energy.

This year named Recycling Business of the Year, Recycling Lives is industry-leading in its processes to recycle scrap cars, scrap metals and plastics. Its Recycling Park is home to bespoke machinery and infrastructure, including a fragmentiser and one of only three pre-shredders in the UK. It operates 12 sites nationally, managing waste and recycling contracts for blue-chip businesses including BT, British Gas and Sellafield.

It is unique in using its recycling and waste management operations to support and sustain charitable activities. It three social offerings create employment opportunities for marginalised individuals through its offender rehabilitation and residential programmes, and redistributing food to charitable organisations across Lancashire and Cumbria.