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About 25% by weight of what goes into a incinerator is left after burning as bottom ash.
Around 2 million tonnes of bottom ash will be produced from the Four Ashes incinerator.
In the Staffordshire County Council 'Zero Waste to Landfill by 2020' document the bottom ash isn't mentioned. In other Council documents it is implied that the ash will be used for breeze blocks or road construction. Currently there is no market for this in the UK. Almost all of the bottom ash from the Hanford incinerator has been sent to landfill.
The bottom ash contains varying amounts of arsenic, cadmium, copper, magnesium, molybdenum, nickel, lead, sulphate, zinc, sodium, potassium, chloride, dioxins and furans.
Currently the environment agency regards bottom ash as 'non-hazardous', so it does not require disposal at a special landfill site. This may change in future due to the levels of zinc in the ash. See Classification of Incineration Bottom Ash. Some European countries class bottom ash as hazardous and its use is not permitted in construction. |
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