I think the argument that incineration is very expensive is very clear and I think you are seeing that in the issue of PFI
Dr Michael Warhurst, FoE
However, council officers and waste management companies have refuted the claims and asserted that incineration-based treatment facilities have helped divert waste from landfill and deal with waste which cannot be recycled.
Over the last year, councils including Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire and Buckinghamshire, and Peterborough have all outlined plans to develop energy-from waste incinerators in order to manage their residual waste. Norfolk and Dorset are also considering the technology.
In the latest round of PFI funding last month, Defra also granted £319.2 million in financial support to help Hertfordshire county council, Norfolk county council and the South London Waste Partnership to develop waste facilities, with reference projects based around energy-from-waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
Opposition
Commenting on the growing trend, environmental campaigners including Friends of the Earth and anti-incineration lobby UK Without Incineration Network (UK WIN) told letsrecycle.com that incinerators risked burning material that could be recycled and that the terminology energy-from-waste “flattered” inefficient facilities.
The groups also blamed funding mechanisms such as Defra's PFI funding scheme for removing incentives away from recycling towards the development of residual waste treatment infrastructure, and said that energy from waste was very costly.
Dr Michael Warhurst, waste campaigner at FOE, said: “I think the argument that incineration is very expensive is very clear and I think you are seeing that in the issue of PFI, with projects not getting off the ground.”
The groups argued that the existing PFI system had led to councils adopting energy-from-waste technology due to its ‘proven' status, which made projects appear less risky to potential investors, and questioned why the government had not given more support to the rest of the waste hierarchy.
Shlomo Dowen, national coordinator at UK WIN, said: “I am aware that reference projects are meant to be just that and just because an incinerator is chosen as a reference technology doesn't mean it will be an outcome but the very fact that incinerators are given the credibility by being made reference projects distracts from anything much higher up the waste hierarchy.”
Over-capacity
In addition to these concerns, fears were also raised that a decline in waste arisings caused by the recession could lead to over-capacity when new energy-from-waste plants become operational in a few years time.
Pointing to existing predictions of overcapacity (see letsrecycle.com story), Dr Warhurst, said: “The real question is when will Defra do some modelling on waste growth to change 1% model of waste growth in light of recession?”
Refute
Responding to these comments, however, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refuted claims that the PFI system was weighted to the adoption of any waste treatment facility – including energy-from-waste plants – ahead of recycling.
A Defra spokeswoman told letsreycle.com: “The minimum recycling target for authorities applying for PFIs is 50%, however Defra and WRAP obviously investigate this further to see if an even better target can be met by those councils who apply.”
“Also with regards to continued recycling, I am told that there is financial incentive to both the councils and the facilities themselves to encourage them to recycle more of the waste diverted from landfill, rather than send it to the treatment facility,” she added.
Echoing Defra's sentiments, the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee – which represents local authority recycling officers – claimed that the use of incineration and energy-from-waste did not contravene council's recycling efforts.
Joy Blizzard, chair of LARAC, said: “Recycling is not being squeezed out because we know that in areas of Europe where there is a high capacity for incineration and energy-from-waste that recycling rates are also high. The two are very compatible.”
Ms Blizzard also defended councils against claims that they were taking an easier option by adopting energy-from-waste plants. She said: “You can't say it is being used as a big plaster to stick over the waste management problem. Recycling and composting is still on the up.”
Companies
Waste management and recycling companies also argued against the assertion that recycling was suffering at the hands of widespread adoption of energy-from-waste treatment methods.
Milton Keynes-based Shanks Group, which has joined with American energy-from-waste company Wheelabrator to bid on a number of PFI deals, said that diversion and recycling were two separate entities and councils can avoid one imposing on the other.
Paul Dumpleton, director of material management at Shanks, said: “If we were just looking at mass burn incineration I would agree, however, there is a front end recycling, which is at the kerbside, and there is also a front end or back end recycling facility at all of the treatment facilities that I am aware of.”
“With the targets as they are, the local authorities will meet their recycling targets through the kerbside, organics recycling, green waste and through civic amenities sites and also additional recycling coming out of mechanical biological treatment and energy-from-waste plants.” he added.
Dr Gev Eduljee, technical director at SITA UK, also dismissed the premise of energy-from-waste “crowding out” recycling.
He said: “That is complete nonsense because we are still landfilling 65% of municipal and household waste. If we were only landfilling 35%, incinerating 55% and recycling 10% then you could ask that question but there is still so much going to landfill.”
Dr Eduljee claimed that it was up to councils to ensure that they put their priorities in the right place and that strict domestic and European targets mean that recycling cannot be overlooked.
He said: “There is nothing in the terms of reference for PFI that point councils to energy-from-waste. PFI is set-up to divert waste from landfill and if they choose to go down the energy-from-waste route that is up to the local authority, who along with landfill diversion targets, still have got recycling targets to meet.”
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