EMR points to rail as emissions reducer
EMR points to rail as emissions reducer
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United Kingdom-based scrap recycling firm EMR Ltd. says it is working to meet its net-zero carbon emissions target by 2040 and cites its use of rail shipping as a “great example of some of the benefits that decarbonizing our operations can bring.”
In the U.K., EMR says it works closely with its rail freight partners “to move materials to our deep-sea docks as well as to [U.K.] customers where possible.”
Continues the company, “We use two sets of railway wagons [gondola cars] that are known as MBAs (or monster boxes). Each set includes 18 wagons with an individual capacity of 84 cubic meters (110 cubic yards) and a potential payload of 72 metric tons. This means that each train EMR runs has a carrying capacity of around 1,300 metric tons.”
Moving the same amount of material by road would take 40 trucks, according to EMR, which adds that each train equates to less road traffic, less congestion at its own yards, and a decline in use of truck scales which means “faster service for customers who deliver their scrap to us.”
In the U.K., EMR says it sends out trains six to seven times per week from yards in Sheffield, Birmingham or Swindon, with many going to the firm’s Liverpool docks to be exported around the world. Rail-connected mills and foundries in the U.K. also can have material delivered to their operations.
EMR also operates scrap yards in the United States. The company says its shredder yard in Becker, Minnesota, includes a new $2.5 million rail line to enable the firm to send out prepared scrap to mills throughout the U.S., cutting the number of trucks needed to transfer material long distances there as well.
As EMR and its partners look to cut carbon emissions out of their supply chains, switching to rail provides significant benefits, says the company.
DB Cargo, a Germany-based rail service provider with operations in the U.K., provides regular sustainability reports to EMR, says the recycler. “It has calculated that [the] carbon footprint of rail freight is significantly less than road, and DB Cargo suggests EMR is saving around 8,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions thanks to the use of its rail freight services.”
Citing freight rail as an area of its operations it is “keen to invest in,” EMR says is increasing the number of trains it will operate in the U.K. to up to nine per week.
EMR says rail is not yet a fully net-zero emissions method of transport, but “as technology progresses in the years ahead, we hope the arrival of hydrogen-powered trains and a decarbonized electricity supply for our rail networks will ensure that, by 2040, our use of rail is entirely carbon neutral.”
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Source: Recycling Today
EMR points to rail as emissions reducer
<![CDATA[United Kingdom-based scrap recycling firm EMR Ltd. says it is working to meet its net-zero carbon emissions target by 2040 and cites its use of rail shipping as a “great example of some of the benefits that decarbonizing our operations can bring.”In the U.K., EMR says it works closely with its rail freight partners “to move materials to our deep-sea docks as well as to [U.K.] customers where possible.”Continues the company, “We use two sets of railway wagons [gondola cars] that are known as MBAs (or monster boxes). Each set includes 18 wagons with an individual capacity of 84 cubic meters (110 cubic yards) and a potential payload of 72 metric tons. This means that each train EMR runs has a carrying capacity of around 1,300 metric tons.”Moving the same amount of material by road would take 40 trucks, according to EMR, which adds that each train equates to less road traffic, less congestion at its own yards, and a decline in use of truck scales which means “faster service for customers who deliver their scrap to us.”In the U.K., EMR says it sends out trains six to seven times per week from yards in Sheffield, Birmingham or Swindon, with…