May 2004 Financial News

TCL converts waste to energy

May 04, 2004

Source: Trinidad Express
By CHERYL ANN CHAITOO-BERNARD South Bureau


Wednesday, April 28th 2004


Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) has come up with a project which would see hundreds of tonnes of waste material incinerated in the company's kilns, instead of being dumped at landfill sites, or in rivers and other waterways.

Hannah Wei-Mudden, TCL's Group Environmental Engineer, yesterday outlined details of the proposed project-"Wastes to Energy: Sustainable Waste Management using Cement Kilns" at a luncheon hosted by the Couva/Pt Lisas Chamber of Commerce.

The luncheon was held at Super Industries Services Auditorium, Rivulet Road, Couva and was also attended by Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Eric Williams.

Wei-Mudden said the TCL plan involved selected wastes such as used tyres, PET plastics ( used to make soft-drink bottles) and petroleum based used-waste oils, be collected at various centres throughout the country, transported to locations where they could be specially prepared (such as where tyres could be shredded) and then taken to TCL where they would be burnt at temperatures averaging 1500 degrees centigrade.

"These materials contain significant calorific value which we are literally dumping down the drains," she said.

Wei-Mudden said the TCL project could provide an alternative solution for the disposal of these waste materials.

She said it could result in significant benefits such as the elimination of wastes from the environment, public health benefits, a reduction in flooding and resultant cleanup-costs, could provide employment opportunities for small scale entrepreneurs and non-governmental organisations and be the basis for sustainable waste management.

Wei-Mudden said according to a survey commissioned by the Environmental Management Authority in 2000, the average person generates one kilogram of solid waste every day. She said with increased industrialisation and urbanisation that was expected to rise significantly. "One must ask the question, where will those waste materials go?"

She said the study, which was carried out by the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd in conjunction with foreign consultants, showed Trinidad and Tobago has the highest motorisation level in the Caribbean with more than 350,000 registered motor vehicles, 60 per cent of which was over 10 years old and 20,000 added each year.

An average 800,000 tyres are imported every year and more than 1.2 million gallons of used oils a year were likely being discarded in sewers, waterways or on land.

As for plastics, she said according to 1999 data, 19 tonnes of PET were disposed of at SWMCOL's three main landfill sites every day.

Wei-Mudden said the TCL project would require legislation to ensure proper disposal of materials and for environmental economic instruments such as a product deposit refund system and advanced disposal fees. Funding, she said, could be sourced from international agencies such as the United Nations, or through the Green Fund Levy, an Environmental Trust Fund, deposit refunds and advanced disposal fees or Central Government funding.