Air quality matters
Some readers of the Echo will have received the Winter edition of Newhurst News, a flyer from Covanta and Biffa. It would be wise to take the information in the flyer with a big pinch of salt.
Employment? Covanta do not mention that typically an EfW (energy from waste) plant will employ just a few tens of people when operational. They may point to employment of HGV drivers; however, at a time of severe national shortage, these drivers would be better employed delivering food and other essential supplies.
“Residual” waste? Government sources report that in England in 2017 so-called residual household waste contained waste that could be categorised as readily recyclable (53%), as potentially recyclable (27%) as potentially substitutable (12%). By incinerating this waste Biffa and Covanta are breaking the circular economy and releasing the locked-in carbon from plastics thereby producing excessive greenhouse gasses! They talk about reducing the need to export waste, but imports or exports of waste for disposal are prohibited, with a few exceptions.
‘Low Carbon’ Electricity? Electricity generated from burning waste is not low carbon, incineration results in high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. For every tonne of waste burned, typically around one tonne of CO2 is released into the atmosphere, and around half of this is fossil CO2. This means that incineration has a higher carbon intensity than the conventional use of fossil fuels, and significantly higher than what most people would consider to be ‘low carbon i.e. solar and wind energy.
Non-hazardous Waste? The waste producer is obliged by law to correctly characterise and describe the wastes they produce. Biffa and or Covanta will be required by the Environment Agency to implement approved waste acceptance procedures in a way that does not impose significant risks, to screen-out hazardous waste. When waste arrives on-site, Covanta say that there will only be visual checks on-site prior to incineration. However mistakes do happen in the waste management process.
Who’s Waste is Being Incinerated? Why should residents of Loughborough and Shepshed be subjected to the HGV traffic, noise and pollution generated by other people’s waste?
Covanta will need waste to burn as a fuel in order to generate and sell electricity. Where will this waste come from? How far will it be transported? How many ‘Waste-miles’ will be involved? Will waste be imported in the UK?
Why No Mention of Particulates – Especially PM2.5? The incineration process creates a plume of emissions, including deadly PM2.5, for which the World Health Organisation says there is no safe limit. Preventable deaths due to PM2.5 is the 3rd leading cause of preventable deaths in Leicestershire and approximately 88 deaths in 2018 could be attributed to it. Also bear in mind the more air you breathe-in for, example during exercise, the higher the number of particles you will ingest.
We are asking Charnwood Borough Council to set-up a comprehensive network of air quality monitoring devices, so the community can be kept fully informed about the levels of pollutants in the local air.
Readers who would like to learn more about why waste incineration is bad for them and bad for the environment should look at ukwin.org. uk.
The Committee – Loughborough Quality Protection Group