Independently verified performance.

Ricardo finds HERU is the least impactful option in contributing to global warming

HERU’s refinement and improvement.

In 2018, we opened up the HERU to independent scrutiny as part of our continual process of refinement and improvement. Consultants at Ricardo Energy & Environment were asked to independently examine the environmental performance of the HERU across its lifetime, and compare the results with traditional co-mingled or kerbside sorted “waste” collections.

The investigation undertook a life cycle assessment of the HERU’s environmental impacts compared with a) collecting co-mingled collections of dry recyclables for sorting at a materials recovery facility, and b) kerbside sorting which separates materials ready for onwards transport to reprocessors.

Review Independent Life Cycle Assessment

Saving 6.2 million tonnes of CO2

The report found that the HERU, which uses Pyrolysis to turn everyday resource (from nappies to plastics to food) into energy to fuel a domestic boiler, if the HERU could be delivered at each of the 22 million homes in the UK, they would amount to between 5.1 million and 6.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent total savings per year.

“Ricardo’s initial findings were extremely encouraging, and prompted a further round of work to investigate the sensitivity of the results to certain assumptions, most notably the prevalent electricity grid mix. Ricardo found that, as that grid mix gets progressively less carbon intensive in the years to come, the HERU’s carbon savings over traditional collection services get better and better.“

Nik Spencer, HERU Inventor

Compared to traditional “waste” collections, the HERU had: 300% less global warming impact than co-mingled collections; and 280% less than kerbside collections.