Delivering Zero Waste
Learn about our journey to delivering zero waste by clicking on the links below which outline our commercial and demonstration projects to date.
Our projects deliver significant recycling and climate change benefits to the environment and society.
Revolutionising recycling – see below our projects for how we are doing this.
Find out how HYDRACYCLE™ fights climate change at the foot of this page.
Revolutionising recycling
The hard data
Real recycling rates are estimated to be at least 10-15% lower than those currently reported, at around:
- 30% in the UK
- 20% in the US
Reported rates (approx. 45% and 35%) are over-estimates as they are based on what is sorted – not what is actually recycled!
Fiberight’s unique HYDRACYCLE™ plant takes mixed unsorted waste and achieves:
- 70%+ recycling rate
The plastic recycling problem:
- 5% of plastics are currently recovered for recycling according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
HYDRACYCLE™ recovers at least 80% of single-use plastics for recycling.
Fiberight’s process is robust and works with all mixed and contaminated waste inputs. This contrasts with the current system, which hides behind such terms as: “Refuse derived fuel” and “Waste to energy”. The vast majority of waste currently collected is in reality burnt, buried or exported.
A HYDRACYCLE™ plant requires no changes in collection infrastructure or public participation to achieve the 70%+ recycling rate.
Our solution also means the outputs from the HYDRACYCLE™ plant can be immediately used locally or nationally; truly delivering the circular economy. This helps stop the exportation of waste, reducing the reliance on ‘dumping waste’ in other communities or countries.
Fighting Climate Change:
by avoiding ‘business as usual’ waste emissions
- Landfill produces carbon emissions of 572 kg CO2eq or 1261 lb CO2eq (when 1 tonne of waste is sent to it)
- Incineration produces carbon emissions of 265 kg CO2eq or 584 lb CO2eq(when 1 tonne of waste is sent to it)
When waste is processed via HYDRACYCLE™ carbon emissions are significantly reduced by minimising the volume of waste requiring end of life disposal.
For 1 tonne of waste processed through HYDRACYCLE™ we reduce ‘business as usual’ waste emissions.
HYDRACYCLE™ saves 380 kg CO2eq or 838 lb CO2eq as compared to ‘business as usual’ landfill and incineration of this waste.
A typical HYDRACYCLE™ plant will deliver the equivalent carbon saving of removing over 20,000 petrol cars from the road each year.
Radically reduced carbon footprint of recovered resources
As the HYDRACYCLE™ process produces raw materials (e.g. pulp or plastic flakes) which are then used in products, the carbon saving from avoiding landfill and/or incineration is passed onto these products (i.e. the carbon saving is inherent in these materials).
- When the HYDRACYCLE™ process produces 1 tonne of recycled plastic, this saves over 630 kg CO2eq or 1389 lb CO2eq GHG emissions.
- When the HYDRACYCLE™ process produces 1 tonne of recycled pulp, this saves 780 kg CO2eq or 1720 lb CO2eq GHG emissions.
If this plastic or pulp is used to manufacture new goods (e.g. packaging) then the inherent carbon saving of the material recovered by HYDRACYCLE™ is passed onto the manufactured product.
For example, the manufacture of a plastic bag uses energy to convert plastic flake into a final product. If 1kg HYDRACYCLE™ plastic is used to produce this bag then the carbon footprint of the bag would be:
- [energy input CO2eq per kg – 0.63 kg CO2eq]
Recycled plastic recovered by HYDRACYCLE™ has a radically lower carbon footprint than virgin plastics produced from fossil fuels; with HYDRACYCLE™ emitting 94%+ less CO2eq see below for visual comparison:
KG CO2eq per tonne of plastic
The generation of rigid plastics via HYDRACYCLE™ saves over 60 kg (132 lb) of CO2eq per tonne, compared to standard recycling processes producing rigid plastics (Ecoinvent).
Renewable energy by-product
Closed-loop water treatment, within HYDRACYCLE, can produce a Renewable Gas (biogas) by-product. A large MSW processing plant can generate over 5 MW of green energy (feedstock dependant).
This is equivalent to the yearly energy needs of over 3000 homes.
*Note. The data used to calculate ‘business as usual’ and HYDRACYCLE™ carbon outputs are based on the processing of RDF in the UK. Carbon savings are expected to be higher for the US base case due to the increased use of landfill and the reduced rates of source segregated recycling