These vehicles deliver the waste containers into the tipping hall of the plant and also take containers of Incinerator Bottom Ash from the facility back to the jetty for onward processing and recycling at Tilbury.

Tipping hall

  1. Waste arrives in the tipping hall in containers on the back of RRRL's fleet of dock tractors and trailers and in a variety of waste collection vehicles from the surrounding area.
  2. The waste is tipped into one of 12 tipping bays. Each bay has a hydraulically operated door which minimises noise and odour during the tipping operations. Lights on each tipping bay indicate to the drivers of the vehicles which bay is available to receive waste.

DID YOU KNOW?

The facility processes an average of 585,000 tonnes a year of waste over design life. Each container holds 12-14 tonnes of waste.

Waste bunker

  1. The waste bunker is 30m deep, 61m long and 16m wide. It can hold up to around 10,000 tonnes of waste – enough to fuel the whole plant at full capacity for five days.
  2. Overhead waste cranes mix the waste so it maintains a similar heating value throughout. The waste cranes feed each of the three combustion lines ensuring that each of the boilers has the required feedstock for continuous 24-hour operation.

DID YOU KNOW?

Infrared cameras detect any hot spots. If any hotspot exceeds 85circC water cannons will automatically operate.

Waste combustion

  1. Waste is fed into one of the three feed hoppers by the overhead cranes. The waste then travels down the chutes and onto a horizontal feeder table.
  2. Hydraulically operated ram feeders push the waste onto the sloping grate.
  3. The sloping stoker grate consists of alternate rows of fixed and moving cast steel bars. Through the forward movement of these bars the waste tumbles slowly down the burning waste bed. The resulting burnt out product – Incinerator Bottom Ash – falls from the base of the grate into a quench bath.
  4. Primary heated combustion air drawn from above the waste bunker is distributed into the waste bed through holes in each cast steel grate bar. This process dries the