Policy

Under the revised Waste Framework Directive, which sets the ground rules for waste across Europe, member states have a statutory duty to follow a five-step waste hierarchy.

This puts an emphasis on waste being prevented in the first instance, and where this is not possible it should be reused and then recycled. Only when this is not feasible does it say that the waste should be used to generate energy, or sent to landfill as a last resort.

England

In the Review of Waste Policy in England published in June 2011, the government said that its aim was ‘to get the most energy out of waste, not to get the most waste into energy recovery’.

Energy from waste technologies include anaerobic digestion; direct combustion (incineration); use of secondary recovered fuel (an output from mechanical and biological treatment processes); pyrolysis; gasification and plasma arc heating.  Government does not generally have a preference for one technology over another, with the exception of anaerobic digestion for treating food waste. 

The government says it supports efficient energy recovery from residual waste which cannot be recycled when it delivers environmental benefits, reduces carbon impacts and provides economic opportunities. This has been shown to be compatible with high recycling rates in many parts of Europe.

The English government is working to remove barriers to other energy from waste technologies by ensuring information is available and readily understood. In particular it has pledged to:

• Work with industry to implement our joint Anaerobic Digestion Strategy;
• Overcome barriers to development of markets for outputs from energy from waste;
• Identify and communicate the full range of recovery technologies available and their relative merits – right fuel, right place and right time;
• Publish a guide to the full range of energy from waste technologies available to help all involved make decisions based on their specific requirements;
• Provide the necessary framework to address market failures in delivering the most sustainable solutions, while remaining technology neutral;
• Work to identify commercially viable routes by which communities can realise benefits from hosting recovery infrastructure to help support community acceptance;
• Ensure the correct blend of incentives are in place to support the development of recovery infrastructure as a renewable energy source;
• Support the development of effective fuel monitoring and sampling systems to allow the renewable content of mixed wastes to be accurately measured;
• Ensure that waste management legislation does not have unintended consequences on the development of the energy recovery industry.

The government’s own Waste & Resources Action Programme body, which traditionally promoted recycling, has also moved closer to support for energy from waste and is funding anaerobic digestion projects. Its stated view now is: “Making best use of our natural resources is not about a choice between recycling or energy from waste, but about a combination of recycling and energy from waste.”

Scotland and Wales

Politicians in Scotland and Wales have taken a more cautious approach to energy-from-waste incineration than in England, however they have introduced strong measures to support for the use of anaerobic digestion technology to treat source-separated food waste.

In its Zero Waste Plan, published in June 2010, the Scottish Government announced plans to restrict inputs to energy-from-waste incinerators. Proposals taken forward in the country's Zero Waste Regulations include a ban on sending materials collected for recycling to incineration plants from 2013 and a requirement to remove dense plastics and metals from residual waste before it is sent for incineration from 2015.

Meanwhile in Wales, the government's Towards Zero Waste Strategy published in June 2010 includes a cap on the amount of municipal waste individual local authoriites can send to energy-from-waste plants, starting at 42% in 2015/16 and rising to 30% by 2024/25.

Renewables Obligation

The Renewables Obligation (RO) is the support mechanism for renewable electricity and has an impact on energy from waste.  Electricity suppliers are obliged to source a growing proportion of the electricity they supply from renewable sources confirmed by Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs). 

Importantly, there is a banding within the ROC system which, for example, favours anaerobic digestion over some other technologies. The scheme gives little support to landfill gas or incineration, with some incinerator operators saying that there should be more support for their plants because of the energy that is generated.

Health impacts

The issue of health impacts still emerges as a topic of debate for new incinerators and some other energy from waste facilities. The plants are regulated by the Environment Agency and have to meet the requirements of the Waste Incineration Directive.

Defra has noted that to the UK Health Protection Agency, the incineration of MSW accounts for less than 1% of UK emissions of dioxins, and are significantly less than the amount of dioxins released into the atmosphere on bonfire night or from accidental fires. The combined emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter (PM10) and volatile organic carbon (VOC) from the all of the UK’s EfW facilities are significantly lower than that emitted by transport and other major industries.

The Environment Agency has said that the Waste Incineration Directive (commonly known as WID) aims to limit the risks that waste incineration poses to the environment and human health.

The Agency states: “There are a large number of waste incinerators in England and Wales, ranging from small laboratory incinerators to large operations that burn household waste. Incinerators burn waste at very high temperatures, which turns the waste to ashes.  The directive also applies to co-incinerators, such as combustion plants and cement works which burn waste as a fuel. Some wastes are exempt from the requirements of the directive.”

It adds: “Waste incinerator operators have improved their environmental performance greatly in recent years. They used to be the largest producers of harmful substances called dioxins, but these days, they're among the lowest. New rules like the Waste Incineration Directive aim to keep up these improvements, so we limit the risks that waste incineration poses to the environment and human health.”

Critics

Some critics of energy from waste and especially incinerators would disagree with this view on health concerns. One of the main groups opposing energy from waste plants is the UK Without Incineration Network. It argues that the incineration of household waste:

• Depresses recycling and wastes resources
• Releases greenhouse gasses
• Is often forced through against strong public opposition
• Relies on exaggerating future quantities of waste instead of strongly increased recycling and composting
• Creates toxic emissions and hazardous ash
• Poses significant health risks