Council statement in response to Extinction Rebellion incinerator action

Nottingham City Council have released a statement responding to the weekend’s blockade of the Eastcroft Incinerator by Extinction Rebellion.

Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste, Cllr Sally Longford, said: “There are no perfect solutions to disposing of the waste we produce, but there are some very clear environmental benefits to us burning a large proportion of local waste instead of sending it to landfill where it would produce methane.

“The fact our incinerator is connected to a district heating system increases the environmental benefits – it means that 5,000 homes that might otherwise be heated and powered by fossil fuels are instead getting their energy from the waste they and other households produce.

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•  Pictures: A look inside Nottingham’s Eastcroft Incinerator

“On top of that, anything that doesn’t burn – like glass and metal – go for recycling, and the ash created is used in road building, while improvements have been carried out over the years to reduce harmful emissions from the process.

“In an ideal world we wouldn’t need incinerators, and I would be portfolio holder for zero waste – but unfortunately we’re a long way off that. We need the Government to get its act together ahead of COP26 and come up with ambitious, workable solutions to the issues of recycling and waste as well as wider answers to tackle the climate emergency.”

• Incinerating waste and producing energy from it results in approximately 33% less greenhouse gas emis­sions than disposal of the equivalent waste to landfill – which continues to be respon­sible for about 75% of all car­bon emissions from the waste sector
• Moving general household waste away from landfill and export and towards domes­tic energy from waste, along with heat networks and carbon capture, could reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by four million tonnes by 2030
• If our district heating system ceased to exist, those buildings connected to it would have to be heated, most likely from using fossil fuels – which would add to the greenhouse gas burden, not detract from it.