Zinc Recycling Prevents Landfill Problem

A program developed and supported by the UK-based Environment Agency, is averting about £25 million (US $48 million) landfill problem following the closure of a Bristol manufacturing business.

Up to thirty thousand metric tons of a waste products from the zinc industry called ‘Blue Powder’ was the challenge presented to the Environment Agency after the closure of the Britannia Zinc Smelting Works in Avonmouth, Bristol, about two years ago.

After two years of negotiations between the Environment Agency, St. Modwens (the current owners of the site), a German zinc smelting company called Sudamin and the German Competant Authority, the powder is being shipped to Germany to be recycled back into the zinc industry.

The first shipment left Avonmouth last month, with further shipments will take place over the next 18 months.

Blue powder is recovered from the chimney stacks of zinc smelting works and is made up of a mixture of metal oxides.

Over half of its content is metal, so although the powder had a substantial economic value, while it remained on site it posed a significant risk to the local environment.

The only other viable option for disposal of the Blue Powder had it not gone to Germany would have been landfill in the UK at an estimated cost of £25m.

There was a concern that responsibility for meeting this cost may have defaulted to the Environment Agency as the company that had produced the waste had closed.

Pete Hart from the Environment Agency said: “This was a significant challenge for the Agency to deal with both in terms of quantity and cost.

“We are absolutely delighted to have found such an excellent solution which disposes of the immediate problem and recycles the powder in an environmentally-conscious and economically-sustainable way.” The Scottsman