Claire Kelley's Diary

Don’t let it all go up in smoke – oppose an incinerator in North Yorkshire

Posted on March 29, 2010. Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Energy, Incinerator, NYCC, waste strategy |

North Yorkshire County Council in partnership with the City of York are expected to announce very soon their preferred bidder to develop an energy from waste plant in the county.   (Energy from waste (EfW) is a euphemistic and less emotive term for incineration.)

Rumours abound that the proposed site will be Allerton Park near Whixley.

Clearly such a proposal is highly controversial – a knowledgeable and very effective local group, DISC, has been opposing the county’s project since Dalton Airfield was identified as a potential site.   The recent proposal by BCB for an incinerator at Tockwith provoked massive public protests and was finally refused by the County Council’s Planning Committee in December 2009.

Councils across the country have been turning away from incineration but here in North Yorkshire it seems that we my be about to embark on what is likely to become an enormous white elephant for the county.The arguments against the use of incineration by waste disposal authorities abound:

• It drives down recycling rates.   Councils have to enter an agreement with operators to provide a certain amount of waste to the incinerator and so this reduces the incentive to recycle.
• Recycling, reuse and composting saves significantly more energy than incineration and result in massively smaller volumes of greenhouse gases.
• Toxic residues – 4 tons of waste produce 1 ton of fly ash and incinerator bottom ash (IBA).   Fly ash contains highly toxic particles including both dioxins and furans – amongst the deadliest substances known to man.    The toxicity of IBA is variable.
• Some of the most toxic substances are emitted as nanoparticles – which cannot be captured.

There are even more arguments against the use of incineration in North Yorkshire:

• In this region there is already significant capacity – two incinerators on Teesside are not yet working to capacity and two more have planning consent but have not been built as there is not sufficient waste to make them viable.   Northumbria County Council has entered an agreement to send its waste to Teesside.
• Scottish and Southern Electricity has announced its proposals for a multi-fuel CHP plant at Ferrybridge, which will also use waste as fuel.
• If sufficient waste does not arise locally, it will have to brought in to the county.
• If the Allerton Park site is indeed the favoured one, there are potential difficulties with water supply – which is a vital component of the process.
• The costs to the council taxpayer could be very high – a change in the taxation of the disposal of incinerator bottom ash or penalties for insufficient quantities of waste could impose huge costs on North Yorkshire residents for many years.

All in all incineration is clearly not a good solution to the county’s waste problems.   We need to reject it quickly and fully and move without delay to find a better, less harmful, more sustainable way of dealing with our waste.

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