Aker Carbon Capture will support Viridor in the provision of a pre-FEED study for the Runcorn CCS project, which is located around 20 km from Liverpool. When in operation, the facility will be one of the first large scale carbon capture projects at an energy-from-waste facility in the world. The pre-FEED study explores the installation of a carbon capture plant in the HyNet cluster, part of the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Track 1 sequencing process, capturing around 1 million tonnes CO2 per annum.

Viridor has a publicly committed plan to become the first net zero waste company by 2040 by implementing CCUS and the extraction of plastic from residual waste streams for more circular recycling. This collaboration builds on the Memorandum of Understanding that Viridor and Aker Carbon Capture signed last year. In this MOU, both parties announced plans to help the UK accelerate its decarbonization agenda through a partnership for next-generation CCS.

Energy from waste with CCS could play a leading role in the UK's decarbonization efforts. If all facilities in the UK were fitted with CCS, approximately five million tonnes of negative emissions could be stored each year. At Runcorn CCS, around half of the waste originates from biogenic sources, enabling half a million tonnes of negative emissions, effectively removing these from the atmosphere.