Incinerator plans to go ahead in 100 communities

Incineration is a controversial anti-waste measure

Wednesday, 23, Jul 2008 12:35

The government is injecting £2 billion into a vast incinerator project which will install rubbish-burning sites in over 100 communities across the UK, campaigners have revealed.

In an effort to galvanise public opinion, the UK Without Incineration Network (UK WIN) has released a map showing where the planned incinerators would be located.

Activists say each incinerator would cost millions of pounds, burn thousands of tones of valuable resources and emit large quantities of greenhouse gases.

"It's insane for the government and local councils to waste taxpayers' money on expensive pollution-belching rubbish burners," said Michael Warhurst, senior resource use campaigner at Friends of the Earth.

"Incineration is a problem for climate change, not a solution, and will send valuable recyclable resources up in smoke."

But the government stands by its plans to invest £2 billion in the scheme despite cutting recycling budgets by 30 per cent.

The money will come in the form of private finance initiative credits offered to local councils to pay for part of the costs of new waste management facilities.

Councils claim they need to build incinerators in order to meet UK and EU targets to keep waste out of landfill.

A Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said: "Local authorities must determine which waste management solutions will best suit their communities, based on local needs.

"Our priority is reducing waste created, then where possible re-using, before recycling and composting. Landfill remains the least environmentally sound option for many types of waste."