No to waste incineration!
9th January 2021Waste incineration has become popular around the world. As we have become increasingly more conscious of the dreadful effects of plastic pollution, government policies have generally sought to deal with symptoms and hide problems rather than provide genuine solutions. Good for business, bad for health.
When China stopped taking plastic waste from countries such as the UK, such waste was pushed onto poor countries, sometimes illegally. These countries would not have the infrastructure to deal with such waste. Negative health and environmental impacts ensued. A good example is Turkey. They have a 1% recycling rate of their own domestic waste, yet UK councils including Swindon Borough Council, were sending plastic waste there through outsourced companies including Public Power Solutions and Thamesdown Recycling. The Basel Convention sought to end rich countries literally dumping on poor countries. Awareness of and opposition to these policies increased, and so the means of waste disposal changed.
The video above by Swindon Borough Council provides an overview of the SRF plant at Cheney Manor. Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) plants are used to transform waste into supposed fuels. The creation and use of RDF and SRF is supported by industry bodies such as Plastics Europe as it provides false justification for the continued use of plastics derived from fossil fuel. The creation and use of RDF and SRF provide indirect ways to burn waste, including plastics. Swindon’s SRF is sent to Eastern Europe to be burnt in cement kilns. This is known to be awful for the health of communities where this occurs.
Swindon Borough Council claim in their draft carbon reduction strategy that the SRF plant is one of “a number of initiatives that continue to benefit the Council, its residents and the wider borough”. They also claim in the video above that the SRF plant is better for the environment than burying waste. We challenge both of those assertions. The promotion of SRF plants as environmentally and socially beneficial enables an unhealthy, polluting system to continue.
The impacts of creating and using SRF is not made clear by Swindon Borough Council. It is noted that there no mention in the video above of the energy requirements of the plant, toxic emissions of the 'fuel' and the plant, the impacts of transportation, and the impacts on the people who live in the areas where this 'fuel' is burnt. We need to stop producing this toxic waste. That is the message that needs to be communicated for appropriate action to be taken.
Waste incineration has more than doubled in the UK between 2014 and 2017 and is currently the preferred method of waste disposal. Incinerating waste is a poor source of energy. It pollutes the environment with highly toxic and persistent chemicals such as dioxins and furans, as well as toxic ash and heavy metals. This has many negative outcomes:
- Air pollution is a major factor in disease and death. It has been at illegal levels in the UK for years despite legal limits. Burning plastic is a major contributor to climate change; On average 1.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide are produced for every metric ton of plastic burned (after energy recovery is taken into account).
- Recent reports show our rivers are highly polluted with persistent chemicals, causing disease and suffering for humans and wildlife. We are largely constituted of water. Pollute water and we pollute ourselves and other beings. For example, toxic chemicals can accumulate in female seal’s milk and then be transferred onto pups.
- Pollution of soil from substances such as plastics has many negative impacts. Such toxic chemicals poison soils, depleting fertility and harming the ecology in many ways. For example: On industrial farms in the UK, many of the soils have become depleted by the use of toxic chemicals. Hedgehog populations have declined as there are no longer enough worms in the soil to sustain them.
In South Marston, Swindon, a waste-to-energy incinerator application has been approved despite strong local opposition to it by SKIP (Stop Keypoint Incinerator Project), residents, and councillors. With the closure of Honda, it is unclear whether that project will go ahead as fuel from the plant was to be sold for Honda’s use. Next steps are in the hands of developers although public opposition can play a key part in stopping these projects going ahead (see action at the bottom of the page).
A waste-to-energy incinerator is also planned for neighbouring Westbury, around 40 miles from Swindon. We stand in solidarity with the Westbury Gasificaton Action Group (WGAG), other groups and communities opposed to its construction. And we support the work of the UK Without Incineration Network (UKWIN), part of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), in opposing the construction and use of waste incinerators.
It’s clear that we cannot continue with the current methods of production and waste disposal; false solutions to plastic and other pollution. UKWIN are working to implement policies to reduce incineration and waste.
We need to stop producing toxic materials such as fossil fuel derived plastics and provide genuine solutions, addressing core problems rather than symptoms. So we need to reduce plastic production, to reduce our overall consumption, to use natural materials instead of synthetic and reuse wherever possible. Hence we support the aims of the Plastic Pollution Bill and a system of zero waste that includes effective legislation on chemicals.
Take action
- Write to local representatives (MP, councillors, parish councilors) to ask that they oppose the construction and use of waste incinerators.
- Support the Westbury Gasificaton Action Group (WGAG) by sharing info and getting involved in actions.
