The Tyseley Energy from Waste Plant is a large incineration

Incineration

Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas, and...

 plant in the Tyseley

Tyseley

Tyseley is a district in the southern half of the city of Birmingham, England, near the Coventry Road and the districts of Small Heath and Yardley...

 area of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, England. It burns rubbish and in the process produces electricity for the National Grid.

It was built in 1996 by Veolia to a design by Faulks Perry Culley & Rech. The automated facility runs 24 hours a day 365 days a year and takes 350,000 tonnes of waste produced by the city annually and converts it into electricity of which 25MW is fed into the National Grid (roughly enough to power 25,000 homes.) Some of the electricity produced is used for an illumination show, which is visible within the four vertical structures on the outside of the building at night. The vertical bands change colour and the lighting scheme has won awards.

The waste Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) from the process is screened for metals and then graded for use as an aggregate for road building, this accounts for 95% of the IBA produced.

The only hazardous wastes produced are Fly Ash (Air Pollution Control or APC) which is produced at around 2% of the waste burnt. This is strongly alkaline and is used to neutralise acidic waste resulting in a neutral filter-cake material.