Incineration is not green

Funding from the Assembly Government announced today could mean a massive incineration plant coming to south east Wales.

The £7.8 million a year going to five south east Wales councils, grouped together under the Prosiect Gwyrdd banner, has been feted as a funding boost for an 'energy-from-waste' plant.

Friends of the Earth Cymru campaigner, Haf Elgar, said:

"There's a danger that the so-called 'Prosiect Gwyrdd' could become Project Greenwash.

"This public money looks set to pay for a massive, over-sized incinerator to come to south east Wales.

"Incineration is not green. It might produce energy, but it's inefficient, and possibly even worse for the environment than landfill. A recent study [1] has shown that incineration emits more greenhouse gas than any other waste disposal option.

"Incineration hits recycling rates, produces hazardous waste, and large plants demanding waste from across the region mean hundreds more lorries on the roads every day.

"And in these changing times, councils signing up to 25 year contracts of producing waste is just bad business sense.

"There is much the Assembly Government can do to help councils with their waste management. But sponsoring these polluting monsters should be no part of it."

NOTES

[1] Greenhouse Gas Balances of Waste Management Services, Eunomia Consulting report to the GLA

For further information please contact Friends of the Earth Cymru on 029 2022 9577