About the facility

Rookery South Energy Recovery Facility is permitted to process up to 657,000 tonnes of residual waste every year – reducing landfill, generating baseload electricity to power 112,500 homes and recovering valuable resources and by-products for reuse.

 

Occupying a former clay extraction pit near Stewartby, Bedfordshire, the facility started operating in January 2022.

 

The facility was developed in a joint venture between Encyclis, the Energy-from-Waste provider, and Veolia, the waste management company.

Facility impact

Recovering more than energy from waste

Our facility operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, turning residual waste into much-needed source of continuous, baseload electricity for homes and businesses via the National Grid. The process is safe, sustainable and reduces dependence on fossil fuels.

 

But we don’t stop there. Our mission is to recover as much as we can from waste by extracting useful resources from the process.

Up to 657,000 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill

We provide a public hygiene solution, dealing with waste that cannot be reused or recycled, and would otherwise go to landfill or be exported overseas.

60MW of sustainable energy

We produce enough baseload electricity to meet the needs of around 112,500 homes at a time when the UK needs greater energy security and to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Thousands of tonnes of ash to be used in construction

Our treatment process produces incinerator bottom ash (IBA) that is safely removed and transformed into aggregate for construction. In addition, metals are recovered from the ash for reuse.

Enabling district heating systems

The excess hot water or steam from our process can be channeled into heating for homes and businesses. We are developing this capability at Rookery South.

emissions and regulations

Protecting the local environment

Energy-from-Waste is highly regulated to ensure safe operation and protection of the environment. Regulatory bodies such as the Environment Agency set safe emission limits and require continuous real-time monitoring. At Rookery South, we do not just meet the regulations but continually strive to go beyond these requirements and apply the best technologies and techniques to protect the local environment.

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Health and safety

Our highest priority

Nothing is more important than safety. It is the first of our company values. A safe, healthy, risk-aware workplace improves the wellbeing of our team, our partners, the local community we serve and the planet we must protect. We set stringent standards and strive to go even further, every day.

Facility partners

Our facility is built on a foundational partnership between Encyclis and Veolia – working together to deliver safe, efficient, continuous services.