Labour slammed for plans to build more than 40 ‘greenwashing’ waste incinerators
29 December 2024, 10:57
Labour is facing growing backlash nationwide due to proposals to build a new generation of more than 40 waste incinerators to burn rubbish.
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Communities are against the plans for new energy-from-waste incinerators, which are named the UK's dirtiest form of power.
Some of the plants can burn more than 500,000 tonnes of rubbish a year and are located in deprived areas.
At the moment there are 50 waste incinerators across England, yet new figures show an additional 41 have been granted planning permission.
Approximately 27 have been given environmental permits and some remain under construction.
Ministers are due to announce new curbs on waste incinerators on Monday, due to growing public concern regarding their impact.
Campaigners are hoping that the government cancels the permits of the incinerators which are not already being built and bans any new projects.
Speaking to The Observer on Sunday, Shlomo Dowen, from the UK Without Incineration Network, the campaign group which collated the figures on projects in the pipeline, said: “There are already far too many waste incinerators across the UK, meaning that most of what is burned is material that could and should have been recycled or composted.“
"For every tonne of plastic that is incinerated, more than two tonnes of carbon dioxide are being released, as the carbon in the plastic combines with oxygen in the air.
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"It makes incineration a significant source of greenhouse gases.”
In addition there are worries about the health implications of pollutants being released by the country's incinerators.
He said: “People’s health is being jeopardised for no justifiable reason."
The most recent figures show 12.1m tonnes of waste collected by councils in England was burned in 2022-23, 49 per cent of all local authority waste.
If the new incinerators are built, England will be burning more than half the waste collected by councils, which goes against Labour's alleged ambitions of a "circular economy" to reduce waste and extend the life cycle of products.
Scientists have already warned that incinerators are a disaster for the climate, and Scotland and Wales have already banned new incinerator plants because of environmental concerns.
In their election campaign manifesto, the Tories pledged to “prevent new waste incinerators being built”.
The planned new incinerators include projects in Dorset, Wiltshire, Cambridgeshire and West Yorkshire.
Multiple projects are scheduled to happen in the north-east of England, including suggested incinerators on Teesside.
