The Environmental Trust: Cool Waste Management

A State-of-the-Art Alternative to Incineration for Residual Municipal Waste- MBT

Publication date: February 2003

Summary
The aim of this study is to assess the possibilities for a system for managing residual waste which does not include any thermal treatment process. The study includes a review of mechanical biological treatment (MBT) systems and their potential effects.

MBT systems are not new. In their more primitive guises, they can be considered a basic evolution from the (usually failed) mixed waste composting plants of two decades ago. However, the potential for integrating systems based around biological treatment of degradable fractions with increasingly efficient mechanical separation techniques is a more recent development, as is the tendency to look to employ digestion techniques for the biological treatment phase as opposed to aerobic treatments.