Duty of care
What is other recovery?
Other recovery is putting waste to use in a way that is not recycling — most commonly recovering energy from it. It sits fourth in the waste hierarchy, above disposal and below recycling.
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<figure>
<img src="https://wasteoptix.co.uk/glossary/other-recovery/diagram.svg" alt="other recovery — diagram from WasteOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://wasteoptix.co.uk/glossary/other-recovery">What is other recovery?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://wasteoptix.co.uk">WasteOptix</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>It is preferable to disposal because something is obtained from the material, and inferior to recycling because the material itself is destroyed in the process.
Energy from waste facilities are the main route in the UK, taking residual waste that has already had recyclable material removed from it. Sending unsorted waste straight there skips a tier.
Refuse-derived fuel is the prepared form of that residual stream, produced to a specification so it can be used as a fuel rather than simply burned.
What goes wrong in practice
- Unsorted waste sent for energy recovery, bypassing recycling entirely.
- Described as recycling in reporting to clients.
- Residual volumes never analysed, so nobody knows what is being burned.