Recycling targets go up in smoke as more incinerators are built
BRITAIN’S push to recycle is at risk from a boom in building incinerators, experts warn.
Twice as much waste is being burnt in plants as eight years ago – despite recycling targets and health concerns.
Officials have allowed 21 plants to fire up since 2010, when there were already 23 – and 18 more are being built.
Of these, four are planned for Scotland – in edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Dunbar, east Lothian.
But, spurred on by the Daily Mail’s Turn The Tide On Plastic campaign, Britons are recycling more than ever and producing less waste.
Councils will soon be locked into contracts to burn more rubbish than homes are producing, experts say. This makes it likely that more ‘lowgrade’ recyclable plastic – such as bottle tops, yoghurt pots and carrier bags – will be sent for incineration.
Professor Peter edwards, of Oxford University’s chemistry department, said: ‘It can be harmful and incineration, of course, also produces high levels of greenhouse gases.
‘Rolling out more and more incineration plants surely can’t be a sustainable solution for the mountain of plastic now building up.’
Figures from the Scottish environment Protection Agency (Sepa) show 189,418 tons of household waste was incinerated across the country in 2016. Scots councils burnt 80,616 tons in 2011.
In england in 2016, 10million tons of household waste was incinerated, compared with 4.3million in 2010.
But since 2010 the amount of rubbish suitable for incineration is down from 30million tons a year to 26million.
In that period, the UK has doubled its capacity for burning waste to 13.5million tons – and the incinerators under construction will need more than 3million tons a year. By 2021, the UK will have an ‘overcapacity’ for incineration, which means plants will need waste from other sources – such as rubbish from other countries – says environmental consultancy firm eunomia.
Councils, which are free to grant permission to build incinerators, are regularly tied into contracts of 25 years or more to provide fixed amounts of household waste that is burnt to provide electricity, or heating for homes. harriet Parke, of eunomia, said a lack of government oversight has allowed so many incinerators to spring up.
She added: ‘We are sleepwalking into the reality of having too many incinerators for the waste we are producing.’
John Kenny, Sepa’s chief officer, circular economy, said: ‘Our robust environmental permitting ensures that the martials put out by households for recycling should not be treated at energy recovery facilities.’ The Scottish Government said it has ‘committed to ambitious targets to reduce waste by 15 per cent and recycle 70 per cent of all waste by 2025’.
Labour’s Frank Field – one of 18 MPs to raise concerns about incinerators last year – said: ‘Given there is now a powerful Daily Mail campaign to focus on recycling, perhaps local authorities who have granted planning permission for incinerators yet to be constructed would like to reconsider their decisions.’