Government can't defend bias to incineration

Opposition MPs argued for excluding energy-from-waste incinerators from strategic projects in national policy at the 18 July Energy debate.

Andrew Love, Labour MP for Edmonton/London, said: “Incineration is considered in the renewable policy statement, yet it produces significant quantities of CO2. Should it not be re-designated under the fossil fuel category?”

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, added it was “hard to see why they [incinerators] are considered a renewable source”. She's concerned long-term council contracts to provide waste for energy from waste facilities would discourage waste reduction, reuse and recycling efforts.

Dai Havard, Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, said the 50MW threshold for EfW applications to come within the NPS framework has “almost invited the industry to come forward with applications for huge developments.” The mega-incinerator proposed by Covanta in his constituency ignores the ‘proximity principle’ he said, whereby waste is treated as near as possible to where it is generated.

The energy minister Charles Hendry said EfW should only be an option after recycling and reuse had been “looked at”, and acknowledged the “strong case” for smaller, local waste facilities and technologies such as pyrolysis and gasification which he said the government was “very keen to encourage”.

Yet he asserted EfW “must also be seen as part of the waste hierarchy, to which we are absolutely committed, but we must also recognise that the generation option is better than going down the landfill route.” This sounds desperate – no rational person claims that burning rubble, contaminated soil and glass-rich fines (from Cardiff's MIRF) are better burned than landfilled, or that incinerator ashes are not often better landfilled.

Greg Barker, under-minister at DECC, was likewise desperate, in claiming that taking EfW out of the energy policy framework would create a “free for all” - called a 'level playing field' by those who wish to avoid bias to incineration. Saying this “framework” for decisions “does not necessarily mean there will be automatic presumption in favour of energy from waste”, he was admitting he wanted a strong steer toward EfW.

Charles Hendry did accept Dai Havard's proposal to meet a cross-party delegation to discuss the relationship between incineration, planning and energy generation, “delighted” to offer this little morsel to extricate the government from the hole he and Barker had dug.

Further reading – in Letsrecycle:

www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/energy/bid-to-exclude-efw-from-planning-framework-rejected

WAG energy from waste con

The welsh assembly gov and local councils under pressure to reduce landfill are
opting for incineration of waste under the pretext that they can make
electricity from the process! 

This is Waste incineration disguised as 'renewable energy'!!

Wwe know the electricity from one of these large incinerators is pretty small, 20 or 30MW, compared with normal power stations (several 100MW up to Aberthaw’s 1450MW) and produces toxic ash and air pollution.They set no requirement on energy efficiency, despite Welsh strategy on 60% minimum.

Can WAG justify, a guarantee of £9 million per year to this waste incineration project while 

telling us they are GREEN? 
Can  Jane Davidson justify an INCREASE incineration to 30%!!!  

Various mechanical and bio-treatments (MBT) are roughly half the cost of incinerators, but WAG’s officials were so set on incineration that they approved the £9 million/year despite adopted policy to minimise waste disposal by landfill and incineration.

Prosiect Gwyrdd is NOT  Green! The partnership is not to "recycle and compost" but to dispose of the "residuals" by unwanted incinerators at huge cost.  

Shift away from EfW incinerators

Four planned energy from waste (EfW) incinerators are to be reviewed pending decisions on whether they will go ahead at all, pointing towards a shift away from incineration as a method of waste treatment.

Spiralling costs and a dramatic reduction in residual waste arisings have put a question mark over the plans to build EfW facilities in Hull, Coventry and Leeds.

The planning committee of Bristol City Council has made a decision to block an application for a 350,000 tonne a year energy-from-waste (EfW) facility proposed by Viridor.

Targets 

False to say no policy change from Wise About Waste, which said minimise disposal to landfill and incineration. This plan says reduce landfill to 5% and expand incineration up to a level of 30% - it's dishonest of WAG to pretend no policy change. 

Targets set by the Welsh Assembly Government which is to recycle 52% of our waste by 2012-2013 - just not ambitious enough to claim they are pursuing a carbon lite sustainable policy!

Putting off 70% recycling till 2025 means going slow on recycling, when some countries (Falmand/Berlgium) and municipalities have already reached this level

FOE Cymru proposed 70% by 2015 and 80% by 2020 are very feasible.

WAG claims that "a minimum level of 70 per cent recycling would be the most cost effective and deliverable level", but 'deliverable' means the dodgy deal with fractious Local Authorities in December 2008.  Over 80% recycling would be cost effective and the best way of reducing greenhouse gases

Waste debate dominates Bristol elections

Rodney Berman Lib Dems /Plaid going for a mass burn incinerator in Cardiff should learn from this and so should New Labour minister Jane Davidson.. and the Lab/plaid WAG.

Waste debate dominates Bristol elections letsrecycle.com

Liberal Democrats vowed to prevent the creation of a "mass burn incinerator" and have made the same pledge ahead of this week's elections.

AND the result...Labour lost eight of its 10 contested seats in Bristol to cede overall control to the Liberal Democrats for the first time; their councillors were largely swept away ...

How green are the Liberal Democrats?

Full story here Wednesday 03 June 2009 Councils News

The two political parties battling for control of Bristol city council in tomorrow's (June 4) local elections have attacked each other's stance on the possibility of an energy-from-waste plant being developed in Avonmouth, on the outskirts of the city.

I don't think people realise that there is no money now for investment in the waste technologies for Bristol

In the lead up to the election, the Labour Party has accused the Liberal Democrats of "throwing away" the council's chance of receiving PFI funding for any new waste treatment technology by blocking plans for the incinerator.

However, the Liberal Democrats, which is the majority party in the hung-council, has reaffirmed its anti-incineration stance and claimed that the city's recycling rate had dropped by 3% under the Labour Party.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, environment leader for the Bristol Liberal Democrats, told letsrecycle.com: "We have said quite clearly that there will be no incinerator and there are a number of other options available to us and given the clear indication that we intend to increase the recycling rate to 50% by next year."

"And, we have got a leaflet with our results on that, which was 12% under Labour then rose to 39% in the 18 months we were in charge and then fell to 36% when Labour came back in in May 2007," he added.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats took control of the council again in March 2009 when the Labour-led majority stepped aside owing to an ongoing dispute about the possibility of developing an incinerator in Avonmouth under a joint PFI bid with two other councils (see letsrecycle.com story).

Immediately after assuming power and by virtue of being the largest single party in the council, the Liberal Democrats vowed to prevent the creation of a "mass burn incinerator" and have made the same pledge ahead of this week's elections.

In the election, the Liberal Democrats, who need four seats to gain a majority in the council for the first time, will be defending 11 seats, the Labour Party 10 and the Conservatives two.

The potential development of an incinerator in the area has been a contentious issue since it was used as a reference technology in the council's October 2008 bid for £80 million in PFI funding as part of the West of England Partnership - alongside Bath & North East Somerset council and South Gloucestershire council.

Labour

Waste collections in Bristol are currently being disrupted by industrial action by workers for the city's waste management contractor SITA UK

However, Labour has criticised the Liberal Democrats position with regards to the development of new technology and claimed that it could see the council tied to the use of landfill for an extended period by "throwing away the PFI deal".

Prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for Bristol West, Paul Smith, who is also chief executive of the Furniture Re-use Network (FRN), said: "The West of England Partnership was going for PFI credits and the Bristol Lib Dems have taken the council out of that process, which means there won't be investment in new waste management technologies."

"We are going to have to find the money from the council's own resources in terms of the capital investment needs," he added.

Mr Smith told letsrecycle.com that the Labour executive member for environment at Bristol council, Mark Bradshaw, was even opposed to mass burn incineration and actually favoured mechanical biological treatment.

"I don't think people realise that there is no money now for investment in the waste technologies for Bristol and I don't think people realise that we have got a dependence on landfill, which has a financial impact," he added.

Strike

Debate between the competing parties comes against the backdrop of striking refuse workers in Bristol and, according to local media reports, mounting piles of refuse in the city.

Related links

• Bristol city council
  
• West of England Partnership

The strike, which is being carried out by staff employed by the council's refuse collection contractor SITA UK over pay, is said to have affected refuse collections across 35,000 households in the Bristol area and has also led to the suspension of food waste collections.

The strikes began on Friday May 22 and a third day's strike took place on Friday May 29. Union Unite said that they would continue to strike every subsequent Monday and Friday until SITA management increased its pay offer to higher than the proposed 2.75% raise.

Lib Dems to scrap Bristol EfW plans

Cardiff lib dems take note ...
Lib Dems to scrap Bristol EfW plans 20-03-2009

Bristol city council looks set to scrap its plans to build an energy-from-waste facility as part of a joint PFI bid with two neighbouring councils, after the political party in charge of the city's council changed.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, cabinet member for the environment, told letsrecycle.com that, now that the Liberal Democrats had taken control of the council from previous incumbent Labour, they expected to push ahead with their manifesto commitment to ensure an EfW plant was not built.

The Liberal Democrats made the decision and it is for the officers to carry out, it is an absolutely key part of our manifesto

"The Liberal Democrats made the decision and it is for the officers to carry out, it is an absolutely key part of our manifesto," Cllr Hopkins explained.

"We wanted a potential variety of solutions and we don't want to centralise arrangements," he added.

Bristol is currently seeking around £80 million in PFI funding for waste treatment as part of a joint bid with South Gloucestershire council and North Somerset county council as the West of England Partnership and had based its Outline Business Case on a reference technology of energy-from-waste.

continues---- http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=31265