Archived press release

Government faces tough battles over incineration plans

19 January 2006

Government will face fierce opposition from local communities if they implement proposals, outlined in a leaked environment department paper, to increase the number of incinerators across the country, warns Friends of the Earth.

Newhaven, Norwich, Mansfield, Hull, Cornwall, Peterborough, Leeds, York, Woking, Nuneaton, East London and Surrey are currently looking into proposals for incinerators. In around half of these areas sites have been identified and the proposals are being fought tooth and nail by local communities.

The public consultation on an incinerator in Newhaven which, if built, will mean over half of the waste in East Sussex and Brighton and Hove being burnt in the town, closes next Friday. Previous consultations on waste plans for the area have sparked thousands of objections from local residents as well as town and district councils and the local MP - largely as a result of the incinerator proposal.

Brenda Pollack, Friends of the Earth campaigner in the South East of England said: “We have been overwhelmed by the strength of feeling in Newhaven on this issue. Incinerators are deeply unpopular with local communities and it's not hard to see why. As well as generating harmful emissions and increasing noise and traffic, incinerators undermine genuine solutions for dealing with waste.”

Many local councils are locked into contracts to supply incinerators with a minimum level of waste for as many as 25 years. This ties their hands and prevents from using more efficient methods such as recycling - now and in the future.

The UK is near the bottom of the European league table when it comes to recycling with just 17 per cent of our waste recycled in 2003/04 compared to 53 per cent in Germany and 59 per cent in the Netherlands. In some areas, such as Flanders in Belgium, 70% of waste is recycled. Friends of the Earth is calling on the government to tackle the UK's waste crisis by reducing the amount of waste generated and expanding recycling so that at least half of household waste is recycled by 2010.

Ms Pollack added: “It is particularly disingenuous for the government to promote incineration as a green way to produce energy. Incinerators are extremely inefficient generators of energy producing more carbon dioxide per unit of energy then old-fashioned coal-fired power station. Incinerators are not the answer to climate change and they are not the answer to waste.”

Notes

For further information, see the briefing paper Up in Smoke (PDF), which outlines the problems with incinerators or to arrange an interview contact Anna Mitchell on 0207 566 1664

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If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust