" WRATE will help those managing household waste, particularly local authorities, by comparing the potential environmental impacts such as global warming, acid rain or the nitrification of our rivers and how these impacts can be altered by changing the way they manage the waste. This could include the way it is collected, stored, sorted, transported and then recycled or disposed of"
Liz Parkes, Head of Waste, Environment Agency
A new tool for assessing the relative impacts on the environment of waste management facilities has been launched by the Environment Agency. The new tool, called WRATE (Waste and Resources Assessment Tool for the Environment), will help waste managers in their decisions on such issues as the difference between the environmental impacts of burning 20,000 tonnes of household waste in a local power station or sending it 50 miles for composting.
These are complex issues to grapple with and the new tool should be very useful in strategic planning and guide waste managers to an optimum solution to their problems.
WRATE is described by the Environment Agency as a user-friendly and flexible life cycle tool which will enable waste managers to easily model the way they want to manage waste just by dragging and dropping colourful icons for the software to calculate the environmental impacts.
The software is claimed to include the latest waste technologies and is designed so that new technologies to the market can easily be added.
WRATE uses life cycle assessment to identify and quantify all the emissions from managing the waste. It covers issues ranging from the type of containers used, such as wheelie bins, right through to final recovery or disposal and including all the transport methods used to transfer the waste.
" WRATE is a huge step forward for sustainable waste management. It’s so easy to use and has the latest technologies"
John Ferguson, Waste Resource Unit Manager, SEPA
The system includes data for:
- 32 types of containers
- 25 forms of transport
- 12 types of intermediate facilities (e.g. transfer station)
- 24 different recycling processes
- 43 Treatment & Recovery processes (including energy/heat recovery, 8 different composting systems and 6 types of landfill site)
The Agency says that life cycle assessment (LCA) is ideal for waste management because:
- it includes all the environmental costs and benefits related to managing waste;
- it shows where changes will be most effective and efficient for the environment;
- it identifies where an improvement in one place would make something else worse.
Comments
Liz Parkes, Head of Waste, Environment Agency said:
"We have to divert millions of tonnes of waste from landfill over the next few years. While we need to reduce the amount of waste we create in the first place, we must also ensure that we manage the waste we do produce in the most environmentally responsible way.
"WRATE will help those managing household waste, particularly local authorities, by comparing the potential environmental impacts such as global warming, acid rain or the nitrification of our rivers and how these impacts can be altered by changing the way they manage the waste. This could include the way it is collected, stored, sorted, transported and then recycled or disposed of".
John Ferguson, Waste Resources Unit Manager at the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency said:
"WRATE is a huge step forward for sustainable waste management. It’s so easy to use and has the latest technologies. Waste managers will be able to use WRATE to plan the next generation of waste management facilities knowing the full environmental impacts of their decisions.
"This must help develop the integrated, sustainable waste management systems we need to meet the challenges of the Landfill Directive and climate change".