The local council refuse collection vehicles
pick up household waste that has not been recycled from outside people's homes.
The waste is taken to an Energy Recovery
Incinerator. The refuse collection vehicles tip the waste into a storage bunker. From here
it is fed into the furnace of the incinerator.
As the waste is burnt at a very high
temperature, a lot of heat and gases are given off. The gases are cleaned using filters
before being discharged into the atmosphere. The heat is used to turn water in pipes
surrounding the furnace into steam.
The steam is used to drive generators which
produce electricity. This is passed into the National Grid through cables.
This whole process is known as Energy Recovery Incineration.
