UK’s recycling targets go up in smoke as more incinerators are built which means twice as much waste is being burnt in plants as eight years ago

  • Officials have allowed 21 plants to fire up since 2010, when there were already 23
  • Twice as much waste is being burnt in incinerator plants as eight years ago
  • Councils will soon be locked into contracts to burn more rubbish than homes are producing, experts say

By GLEN KEOGH, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT and COLIN FERNANDEZ, ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

Published: | Updated:

Britain's push to recycle is at risk from a boom in building incinerators, experts warn.

Twice as much waste is being burnt in plants as eight years ago – despite recycling targets and health concerns.

Officials have allowed 21 plants to fire up since 2010, when there were already 23 – and 18 more are being built.

Officials have allowed 21 plants to fire up since 2010, when there were already 23 – and 18 more are being built 

Officials have allowed 21 plants to fire up since 2010, when there were already 23 – and 18 more are being built 

But, spurred on by the Daily Mail’s Turn The Tide On Plastic campaign, Britons are recycling more than ever and producing less waste.

Councils will soon be locked into contracts to burn more rubbish than homes are producing, experts say.

This makes it likely that more ‘low-grade’ recyclable plastic – such as bottle tops, yoghurt pots and carrier bags – will be sent for incineration. Professor Peter Edwards, of Oxford University’s chemistry department, said: ‘It can be harmful and incineration, of course, also produces high levels of greenhouse gases.

‘Rolling out more and more incineration plants surely can’t be a sustainable solution for the mountain of plastic now building up.’

Professor Peter Edwards, of Oxford University’s chemistry department, said: ‘Rolling out more and more incineration plants surely can’t be a sustainable solution for the mountain of plastic now building up’ (file photo)

Professor Peter Edwards, of Oxford University’s chemistry department, said: ‘Rolling out more and more incineration plants surely can’t be a sustainable solution for the mountain of plastic now building up’ (file photo)

Green Party peer Baroness Jones said higher incineration led to less recycling, adding: ‘People want to recycle, but many local authorities are taking the lazy route of burning what is often a valuable resource.’

Figures show 10million tons of household waste was incinerated in England in 2016, compared with 4.3million in 2010. But, since 2010, the amount of rubbish suitable for incineration is down from 30million tons a year to 26million.

In that period, the UK has doubled its capacity for burning waste to 13.5million tons – and the incinerators under construction will need more than 3million tons a year.

By 2021, the UK will have an ‘over-capacity’ for incineration, meaning plants will need waste from other sources – such as rubbish from other countries – according to environmental consultancy firm Eunomia.

Councils, which are free to grant permission to build incinerators, are regularly tied into contracts of 25 years or more to provide fixed amounts of household waste that is burnt to provide electricity, or heating, for nearby homes.

Harriet Parke, of Eunomia, said a lack of government oversight has allowed so many incinerators to spring up over the last decade – some within just a few miles of each other. She said: ‘We are now sleepwalking into the reality of having too many incinerators for the amount of waste we are producing.’

Green Party peer Baroness Jones (pictured) said higher incineration led to less recycling, adding: ‘People want to recycle, but many local authorities are taking the lazy route of burning what is often a valuable resource'

Green Party peer Baroness Jones (pictured) said higher incineration led to less recycling, adding: ‘People want to recycle, but many local authorities are taking the lazy route of burning what is often a valuable resource'

Labour’s Frank Field – one of 18 MPs to raise concerns about incinerators in an early-day motion last year – added: ‘Given there is now a powerful Daily Mail campaign to focus on recycling, perhaps local authorities who have granted planning permission for incinerators yet to be constructed would like to reconsider their decisions. Otherwise they will halt waste reduction and recycling.’

Public Health England said a study it is funding found incinerator emissions were not ‘a significant risk’ to health.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said its 25-year plan looked at further ways to reduce avoidable waste and recycle more.

FIRMS TRY TO WATER DOWN BOTTLES PLAN 

By Sean Poulter

The industry and some council bodies have been lobbying MPs and ministers to severely restrict any such scheme to smaller ‘on-the- go’ plastic bottles.

This would make the system in England different to Scotland, where there are plans to include all drinks containers, regardless of size, made of plastic, glass and metal.

Campaigners against plastic waste warn that adopting two deposit and return schemes (DRS) would create enormous confusion.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has set up a group to investigate how DRS could work in England. It is due to report shortly.

The British Plastics Federation has raised numerous objections with MPs to DRS.

Packaging industry trade body, INCPEN, has lobbied against any form of DRS.

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