The local Councils seem to be moving towards building a big incinerator somewhere in old Avon area, now called the West of England. The four Councils have been considering what to do with the waste we put in our black bins.

They are under pressure from the government and Europe to greatly reduce landfill, i.e. the tipping of waste into holes in the ground. Waste that rots in landfill generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, so we should only be putting inert waste that does not rot into landfill.

FoE says that there should be a lot more recycling and the rest should be digested, with the methane used to generate electricity. Recycling saves the greenhouse gases caused in making more raw materials. We currently recycle about 40% of our waste, while we could increase that to over 70%. Anaerobic digestion is a much cleaner and more efficient process that incineration.

The modern incinerators are cleaner and more efficient than the old one at Avonmouth that had to be shut down. They are called “Energy from Waste” because the heat is used to make steam and generate electricity.

The name is good marketing but misleading, because all the proposed alternatives generate energy from waste. Incinerators are still dirty and wasteful, giving out dioxins, which cause cancer even in tiny quantities. Also the ash is highly toxic.

Incineration can prevent recycling in the future. Incineration needs a proportion of paper and plastics to make the waste burn, and these could and should be recycled. There will be contracts signed about the amount of paper and plastic in the waste stream, which means we will not be able to recycle them.

The Councils have put in a bid for government PFI money to build a big “Energy from Waste” incinerator. They had to put this bid in by the end of March, before the proposals were fully developed or consulted on. They say they can change the plan, and I hope they can, if only because they still have to do a public consultation.

(Picture by Charlie Tyack)

Alan Pinder