The Mayor was speaking to letsrecycle.com at the launch of his new anti-litter campaign at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on Wednesday.
Mr Livingstone's comments appeared to cast doubts over a 72MW energy-from-waste recovery plant being proposed for the London borough of Bexley.
He accepted that a “reasonable case” for incinerators could “probably” be made, but warned that too many people would fight against proposals “because government scientists lied so much over CJD, no one believes them anymore”.
Mr Livingstone said: “I doubt I will live to see another incinerator in London. Public opposition is too immense. No one wants an incinerator near them.”
Riverside Resource Recovery (RRR) Ltd, the operators of the proposed Belvedere incinerator plant, are currently waiting for the inspector's report following a three-month planning inquiry held last summer (see letsrecycle.com story).
Implications
If the 585,000 tonnes capacity plant is not given the go-ahead, it could have huge implications for London's waste, proving difficult for the waste management company Cory Environmental, which would be the main supplier of waste to the plant. Cory is hoping to use the plant as part of its Western Riverside Waste Authority disposal contract when its landfill at Mucking, Essex, closes in 2007.
Asked what would happen to London's residual waste once the Mucking landfill closes, Mayor Livingstone admitted there were no hard and fast answers. He said he realised it was a problem area that “we're all working on”.
The Mayor's municipal waste strategy, launched in September 2003, said that incineration would be a last resort for London's waste, and that everything should be done to look for new technology treatment systems for residual waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
Mr Livingstone's comments come despite councils in the South East region of England – which takes 3.5 million tonnes of London's waste a year – saying this week that energy-from-waste recovery should be taken more seriously (see letsrecycle.com story).
Litter
Meanwhile, the Mayor's anti-litter campaign is set to reach nearly 2 million people when it trails the new blockbuster cinema release Starsky and Hutch next week.
The advert is part of a campaign, supported by Onyx, to encourage Londoners to take responsibility for their own litter.
Cyrille du Peloux, chief executive of the Onyx Environmental Group, said: “Keeping the streets of London clean is an enormous challenge. Technology and specialist expertise play an important role in dealing with the litter but in the long term it is education that will tackle the heart of the problem.”
Compliance scheme Valpak, which is also supporting the Mayor's campaign through its consumer website recycle-more, said that about a third of litter is drinks containers – cans and bottles – which should be recycled.
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