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Incineration
This page contains resources to help you campaign against
incinerators in your local area.
If you are concerned about a local incinerator plan, the
first step is to check if your local Friends of the Earth group is already
involved in a campaign against it. You can find your nearest group here.
UK WIN (UK Without Incineration) is a network of anti-incineration groups. You can find out whether there is a campaign group in your area on UK WIN's website, and view an interactive map of current and proposed incinerators .
Friends of the Earth opposes incineration because it:
- Destroys valuable materials that could be recycled into new products.
Recycling saves far more energy than is created by burning waste as
it avoids having to make products from virgin materials.
- Doesn't provide an incentive for reducing waste as incinerators
need a minimum throughput of rubbish to operate efficiently. Contracts
for incinerators also tend to be long-term, requiring waste for 20
years which means that they are very inflexible to changing components
and quantity of the waste stream.
- Causes pollution, often in already polluted areas. There are a number
of health concerns associated with both the air emissions from incinerators
and the solid waste (ash) that is produced.
There are also other site-specific issues with incineration such as
visual impacts and increased heavy traffic.
This page is laid out as follows:
For more general information on incineration, recycling and waste see
our sister website: www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/waste/.
Presentations from an anti-incineration summit held in October 2006 can be found here.
Presentations from the AGM of the UK Without Incineration Network (UK WIN) held in March 2007 can be found here.
Key resources to help you understand the
issues and build your campaign
Up
in smoke
(PDF format - 190K) Sept 2007
This briefing looks at the
reasons why Friends of the Earth opposes incineration, and covers the
waste of natural resources, the effect on recycling and climate change
and the pollution from air emissions and toxic ash.
Up
in smoke leaflet
(PDF format - 262K) October 2007
This colour leaflet provides an introduction to why Friends of the
Earth opposes incineration of mixed municipal waste and offers solutions
for dealing with our rubbish. For paper copies visit our online shop's free
resources section.
Dirty
truths: incineration and climate change
(PDF† format - 755K) May
2006
This briefing investigates the climate impacts of energy from waste
and residual waste treatment and shows that incinerators that produce
electricity emit more greenhouse than gas fired power stations.
Understand the planning system
Understanding the planning system is essential to running an anti-incinerator
campaign - it's the best way to get your voice heard and have an influence
on the decisions being made. Many useful resources to help you get involved
in the right way and at the right stage of planning applications can
be found on the Friends
of the Earth Planning website. Although the system may seem arcane
and intimidating, don't be put off by the complexity.
Be aware that is important to respond to planning applications within
21 days and to support your letter of objection with relevant planning
policies.
Campaign guides
NB - The planning sections of the following guides have been superceded
by the resources on the Friends
of the Earth Planning website.
The PDF versions provided here are meant for online reading and to
print out relevant pages. We do not recommend to print off the entire
documents. Please be aware that the file sizes are quite large and might
take a while to download.
How
to win: campaign against incinerators
(PDFformat - 442K) September 2000
An introductory guide, updating and summarising information found in
the Incineration Campaign Guide.This briefing looks at the reasons why
Friends of the Earth opposes incineration, and covers the waste of natural
resources, the effect on recycling and climate change and the pollution
from air emissions and toxic ash.You can also buy
a paper copy of this guide.
Incineration campaign guide
(PDFformat - 675K) December 1997
A comprehensive guide for campaigning against incineration. The 'How
to Win: Campaign against incinerators' guide above updates and summarises
information from this guide.
Briefings on relevant waste issues
Anaerobic
digestion
(PDF format - 101K) September 2007
With strong public opposition from local communities to incineration,
local authorities are increasingly looking for other means to tackle
the UK's growing waste problem. One such technique, explained in this
briefing, is the process of anaerobic digestion (AD). AD is a treatment that composts biodegradable waste in the absence of oxygen, producing a biogas that can be used to generate 100% renewable electricity and heat.
New
waste technologies
(PDFformat - 82K) September 2004
Waste disposal authorities are increasingly looking at new technologies
to deal with waste other than landfill or incineration.This briefing
offers guidance on the questions local campaigners should be asking
when deciding whether to support new proposals.
Mechanical
and biological treatment
(PDF format - 171K)
March 2004
Traditionally, most municipal waste in the UK has been landfilled and
more recently there has been a trend towards incineration. Mechanical
and biological treatment is a new option for dealing with our waste.
This briefing examines the process and explains the potential benefits
and disadvantages of using this technology.
Pyrolysis
and gasification
(PDF format - 105K) October 2002
This briefing explains how pyrolysis and gasification processes work
and what their benefits and disadvantages are. It also looks at which
companies are involved in developing this technology in the UK.
Target recycling:
aiming for 50 per cent and beyond
(PDF† format - 450K) January 2005
This report looks at the impact of setting statutory recycling
targets and puts forward Friends of the Earth recommendations for future
targets and other policy measures to support high rates of recycling
in the UK.
Posters
Case studies
We've put together some case
studies of local campaigns against incinerators:
Links
UK WIN - UK Without Incineration Network
GAIA - Global
Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Image: © Friends of the Earth
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