Waste incineration 'set to rise'

mkpdavies · 18-01-2006, 04:25 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4621710.stm

Quote:

Ministers are preparing to back a large increase in the amount of rubbish that is incinerated instead of being buried, according to documents seen by the BBC.
An environment department paper, to be published next month, suggests the proportion of burned waste could rise from 9% to 25% in the next 15 years.

It urges making "energy from waste", a process in which incinerators are used to power electricity generation plants

.

Quote:

Ministers believed more burning was justified as it provided a green source of energy, reduced our dependence on foreign fuel, and health risks from emissions were small, our correspondent said.

Why are they not just honest about it and say we have no choice, as the EU told us we have to stop landfilling. Burning this stuff may well be a good way of doing it, but if that is the case, why wasn't it done before?

Personally I don't believe for a minute that we are running out of space for landfill. Old quarries, unused fields, or just land that someone wants to sell could be used still. With modern landfill techniques, once you have finished with the site, firstly you can draw gas off of it for a while, providing energy. Then once that as been used, you can sell the land on to make a golf course, or something like this.

http://www.greengrid.co.uk/projects/..._info.cfm?id=3

Also I have a friend who lives on top of an old landfill site. It's just like any other new housing site, only instead of you being on top of invisible rocks, mud etc, you are on top of invisble compacted, energy drained, solid waste. It has to be done right, but it can be done!

Now people might decide that burning it is a better idea, but let's have some honesty and stop pretending it's a major problem that has to be addressed anytime soon. If Britain still looked after it's own affairs, we could do a full assement, in whatever area of the country and let the local people decide what they want.

Quote:

But Michael Warhurst, of Friends of the Earth, said Britons should be concentrating on recycling more and burning less.

"Incinerators are extremely inefficient generators of energy, producing more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than an old-fashioned coal-fired power station.

"The government should tackle the UK's waste crisis by reducing the amount we generate and ensuring a huge expansion in recycling."

So if you believe the "humans production of CO2 is creating the huge global warming" theory, this EU directive could be adding massively to the problem. Personaly I think FOE geezer has got it right about looking at ways to cut rubbish generation, but has too much faith in recycling as being a solution. I have explained before why I think that is a big con in general (though not always).

Quote:

Steve Lee, from the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management, told the BBC he would back a move towards more incineration.

"We have to cut our reliance on landfill because we've got tough targets under the European landfill directive," he said.

He added we ought to make the most of the energy that could be provided from millions of tonnes of rubbish.

Steve Lee comes in with the most sensible comments for me. He indicates exactly WHY all this is happening now. The EU telling us we have too.

However, I am open to be convinced that modern incinerators could infact provide cheap energy from our rubbish, without chocking us all in the process. I am just very warey of why it wasn't done before, if this is the case.

Tillycat · 18-01-2006, 08:05 AM

So where was UKIPs policy statement rushed out when this story broke so that the EU can be seen to be the bad guys in all of this?

David Holland · 18-01-2006, 09:58 AM

Actually I am not sure it is a bad idea.
Some scientists think that sometimes buring rubbish can be the best idea
http://www.newscientist.com/article....mg15621094.900

Of course recycling metal and glass is the best thing for the enviroment (producing them uses lots of energy), but is that true for paper from sustainable forest ? It is quite complicated and I couldn't say what is best although at least I know that it is complicated.

John Page · 18-01-2006, 10:15 AM

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/#113754895521694051 (the links haven't copied across) -

Quote:

It is rather ironic that, yesterday, I should declare that “there is nothing so contemptible as the self important newsreader announcing "…the BBC has learned…", only to hear in that evening’s BBC news bulletins, repeated on the website, a variation of that very theme: "Ministers are preparing to back a large increase in the amount of rubbish that is incinerated instead of being buried, according to documents seen by the BBC."

And so they drivelled on, telling us that: "An environment department paper, to be published next month, suggests the proportion of burned waste could rise from nine percent to 25 percent in the next 15 years. It urges making 'energy from waste', a process in which incinerators are used to power electricity generation plants."

Only at the very end of the web report, but not on the broadcasts, do we get Steve Lee, from the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management, who says: "We have to cut our reliance on landfill because we've got tough targets under the European landfill directive."

This we have referred to many times on this blog and you can see it for yourself here, if you are sufficiently bored.

Made under the EU's Waste Framework Directive, it sets out a strategy that requires, inter alia, that by 2014 "biodegradable municipal waste going to landfills must be reduced to 35 percent of the total amount (by weight) of biodegradable municipal waste produced in 1995 or the latest year before 1995 for which standardised Eurostat data is available."

Nothing of this comes over from the BBC which even goes to the trouble of asking people on its "have your say" site: "Should we incinerate more waste? Ministers believe more incineration is justified as it is a green source of energy, reduces dependence on foreign fuel and health risks from emissions are small."

I have posted a comment onto this "fully moderated" site, saying: What are you going through this charade or asking people for their views? We have absolutely no option on this. We are required by the EU's Waste Framework Directive to adopt this policy, and the government's strategy is simply a copy-out of the Directive requirements.”

Of course, they won't publish my comment. The BBC managed to get through all its broadcast news reports without mentioning EU legislation and requirements once, so why should it bother now, giving the idea to people that we no longer have an independent country able to make its own laws?

David Holland · 18-01-2006, 10:57 AM

Actually to be fair to the BBC I have seen comments like that on their website.
' Added: Wednesday, 18 January, 2006, 08:51 GMT 08:51 UK

What does it matter if your readers are for or against this.
It is a European directive that we are obliged to waste billions implementing regardless of the views of anyone in the UK.

john, The Hague

Recommended by 3 people '

18-01-2006, 08:05 AM	#2 (permalink)
Tillycat Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Woking (Apparently there is an active branch!) Posts: 169	So where was UKIPs policy statement rushed out when this story broke so that the EU can be seen to be the bad guys in all of this? __________________ Vote for UKIP Britain\'s 4th largest party!

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18-01-2006, 09:58 AM	#3 (permalink)
David Holland Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London Posts: 1,319	Actually I am not sure it is a bad idea. Some scientists think that sometimes buring rubbish can be the best idea http://www.newscientist.com/article....mg15621094.900 Of course recycling metal and glass is the best thing for the enviroment (producing them uses lots of energy), but is that true for paper from sustainable forest ? It is quite complicated and I couldn't say what is best although at least I know that it is complicated.

18-01-2006, 10:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
David Holland Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: London Posts: 1,319	Actually to be fair to the BBC I have seen comments like that on their website. ' Added: Wednesday, 18 January, 2006, 08:51 GMT 08:51 UK What does it matter if your readers are for or against this. It is a European directive that we are obliged to waste billions implementing regardless of the views of anyone in the UK. john, The Hague Recommended by 3 people '