Press release
ACTS – Thurgau Canton EfW demonstrates the versatility of the system in Integrated Intermodal Waste Management Projects in Switzerland
In conjunction with the opening of a new 125K tonne pa, now achieving 137k tonnes pa, “Energy from Waste Plant” (EfW) at Weinfelden in 1997, a new Integrated Intermodal Waste Management System was implemented for domestic waste in all 6 districts. The Thurgau Canton consists of a mixture of rural areas and small towns. The Integrated Waste Management Scheme was then the only one of its kind in Switzerland but other new rail connected EfWs have now been built in Thun, Landquart and now Lausanne as a result of the success of the Thurgau scheme. All these schemes claim to be both ecologically and commercially viable.
The Canton covers 41k sq. km in NE Switzerland and is divided into 6 collection zones:- Weinfelden (local), Eschenz 35 mls, Romanshorn 20 mls, and Frauenfeld, Kreuzlingen and Bischofszell, each about 15 - 17 miles from Weinfelden. In all areas, collection vehicles have an on board compaction system fitted with the side loading, front mounted compaction system; in this example, from OMB Translift. Within the Weinfelden local area the collection vehicles run directly to the “Energy from Waste Plant” but in all the other areas the 27 cu metre ACTS compatible containers are transferred to ACTS rail wagons, from Tuchschmid AG, at sidings situated in each of the towns for overnight rail transit to the plant in Weinfelden and are returned for the start of the next day’s collections. The 6m long containers have a maximum capacity of 10.6 tonnes but typically load to about 10 tonnes. The vehicles are provided by a local transport company who also supply the drivers. The drivers effect the transfer of the ACTS containers from road to rail and vice versa in about 5 – 10 minutes.
In addition, compacted business waste is collected from 30 companies in the Canton in the same containers, integrated into the schedules of the local RCVs, and are delivered directly to the rail sidings. In addition there are about 3 local amenity centres per district where other waste and recyclables can be brought by the public. The waste element from these sites is also handled in the same ACTS containers. A c£2 per tonne discount is offered to businesses to use the rail service for haulage to the EfW. About 52% of the local waste for disposal is domestic.
The system has been received favourably by householders and staff, who have appreciated the benefits of sideloading against the end loading vehicles previously used. The vehicles also obtain data on the volume of waste collected from each address. This is important as householders are now charged £1.50 per 35 litre bag or wheelie bin for disposal. The introduction of this charge has resulted in a 15% reduction in waste offered for disposal. Drop density is 2.2 stops / km in rural areas and 9.4 stops / km on average in urban areas. By a combination of the above measures and the use of larger collection vehicles the domestic collection fleet and the miles run have been reduced by 50%, c600k kms pa. In addition, no waste transfer stations are now required. In total 70 containers are used on domestic collections and 60 for business purposes; this represents one days spare capacity to cover for contingencies.
For trunk transport, in 1999 rail accounted for 57% of the tonnes moved into the EfW but this increased to 77% by 2002 as the 2 other Cantons feeding waste to Weinfelden adopted the same integrated ACTS collection system. However the rail proportion has fallen to 65% in 2006 due to the substitution of tonnage from Southern Germany in place of one of the other Swiss Cantons. The same ACTS on board compaction RCVs are used in Germany but there has been a shortage of rail paths on one of the feeder routes from Germany which has temporarily restricted the rail element. 19 -22% of the waste becomes ash, and is loaded into tarpaulin covered open top ACTS containers for dispatch to landfill, where any metal waste will be recovered. The very small amounts of particulates recovered from the flue gases are loaded into powder tankers and dispatched to special chemical tips.
The application of the same ACTS intermodal system in the other Swiss Cantons and in Germany, has enabled the easy organisation of diversions to other EfWs when Weinfelden closes for one - two weeks twice a year for its maintenance shutdowns, or in the rare event of an emergency shutdown, regardless of the manufacturer of the on board compaction equipment on the RCVs, as all conform to the UIC standard ACTS specification. In 10 years operation this has only occurred on three occasions.
The logistics of these ACTS integrated intermodal waste management systems is managed by a specialist company “ACTS AG”. They organise the RCV collection routes and business collections, arrange the rail services using SBB and other private rail freight operating companies, own and maintain the ACTS rail wagons, and provide training and technical support to their nominated regional hauliers. They move over 750k tonnes pa of wastes and recyclables using the ACTS Intermodal Transport System.