Lincoln Energy from Waste Plant continues to power homes across Lincolnshire

Lincoln Energy from Waste Plant normally takes around 190,000 tonnes of household and business waste every year to power homes and business across Lincolnshire.

With the lockdown in place, many workplaces closed and employees who can work from home doing so, where the waste comes from has changed.

At the outset of the COVID-19 crisis, workers at Lincoln Energy from Waste Plant, employed by FCC Environment, along with others like it, were given Key Worker status as the Government recognised the vital role the waste sector needed to play in keeping waste and recycling collections and waste processing going. As such, the plant has remained open, operating normally and continuing to power 29,000 homes across Lincolnshire and ensuring that residential waste does not end up in landfill.

The plant takes non-recyclable waste from across the county and burns it to produce steam, that in turn powers a turbine and generates electricity. The Lincoln facility has been providing local residents and businesses with energy for seven years and provides an environmentally friendly alternative to landfill.

Juergen Schaper, General Manager at FCC Environment, said: “The Coronavirus pandemic has given us some new and unknown challenges, however, we have been able to respond quickly to ensure that we continue to put energy into the grid. The team here are working hard to ensure that homes across Lincolnshire do not see any impact to their energy supply and that once people start to return to work, we are ready to power their workplaces as well”.

Around 107,000 people in the waste and resource management industry have been identified by the Government as key workers, among them are about 40 people from FCC Environment working on behalf of Lincolnshire County Council. New ways of working have been put in place at the facility to ensure the government’s social distancing guidelines are adhered to, whilst keeping the plant operational, says the company.