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Dirty truth about incineration and climate change

Incinerating rubbish to produce energy contributes to climate change and should be rejected in Wales. This is the message given by Friends of the Earth Cymru to the Welsh Assembly as they consider how to solve Wales’ waste problem.

A report (PDF†) [2] commissioned by Friends of the Earth shows that incinerators which burn waste to generate electricity produce over thirty per cent more carbon dioxide than a comparable gas-fired power station.

Although less waste is being dumped in land-fill sites, in just five years these will be full. This, according to the Environment Agency Wales, is a problem that demands new ways to deal with waste in a sustainable manner. The incineration of waste to produce energy is thought to be a solution and has support amongst some Assembly Members and was backed by the Environment Minister, Carwyn Jones, in a statement last year.

Friends of the Earth Cymru disagree and have sent each member of the Assembly's Environment, Planning and Countryside Committee it’s report showing how incinerating to produce energy contributes to climate change. The report concludes that the best option is to ensure that as much waste as possible is reused, recycled and composted and that any remaining waste should be dealt with by mechanical biological treatment (MBT) [6].

Assembly campaigner for the group, Gordon James, said:

"As climate change is the biggest threat we face, all government policies should be examined for their impact on the climate.

"This study shows that waste prevention is the most beneficial option from a climate point of view, followed by reuse and recycling/composting. Landfill and incineration are the worst options.

"Waste incinerators are sometimes presented as sources of green electricity. What is rarely mentioned is the fact that they produce climate changing gases. Incinerators that burn waste to generate electricity, for instance, produce a third more carbon dioxide than a gas-fired power station. The situation will get even worse in the future as conventional power stations are cleaned up while incinerators are likely to burn more plastic.

"Burning our rubbish is a bad way of dealing with waste and a bad way of generating electricity.  We need a zero-waste policy for Wales.  To achieve this the Assembly Government must to do everything possible to maximise the three Rs of reduce, reuse and recycle and to reject proposals for incinerators that would undermine efforts to tackle climate change.”

Notes

1.Today’s (January 25th) session of the Environment, Planning and Countryside committee will hear evidence from the Environment Agency Wales on waste management. See papers on:
www.wales.gov.uk/cms/2/EnvironmentPlanningAndCountrysideCommittee/

2. ‘Dirty Truths: Incineration and Climate Change’ (PDF) by Eunomia Research and Consulting Ltd on behalf of Friends of the Earth.

3. Recycling of municipal waste in Wales has risen from 6% in 1999/2000 to 25% in 2005/6. Between 1998/99 and 2003/4, industrial waste fell by 15% with the amount land-filled declining by 39%. Over the same period, commercial waste production reduced by 9% and the amount land-filled by 41%. The amount of construction waste land-filled has also declined significantly.

4. See Environment Agency paper (PDF) [para.2.1] presented to Environment, Planning & Countryside committee.

5. Plenary Nov 15th 2007
Carwyn Jones: “First of all, landfill will be with us for some years to come, but we need to reduce it. However, we must remember that there will always be a fraction of rubbish that cannot be recycled or reused and that that will have to be disposed of in some other way, either by using energy from waste plants or incinerators.”

6. MBT extracts metals, plastics and any other recyclable items from the remaining waste before the biological waste matter is decomposed. This can be used to generate methane as a fuel. The small amount of residue can then be land-filled or in some cases made into refuse derived fuel to be burnt. 

†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.