Early Monday 2 August, protestors from Extinction Rebellion Nottingham will gather on the road leading to the Eastcroft incinerator to build a wall of cardboard boxes with messages protesting plans for an additional incinerator at Ratcliffe-on-soar.
Extinction Rebellion Nottingham said:
‘Private contractors make a profit from burning waste and they want to sell incinerators as a green heating solution, but in fact they are just as polluting as burning fossil fuels.
‘Incinerators burn waste that could have been prevented, recycled or composted, including plastics that release toxic chemicals into the air.
‘The Eastcroft incinerator already has a track record of breaching limits on air pollution levels and releasing up to 450 times the legally allowed amount of cancer-causing toxins.
‘The decision to approve a new incinerator comes just weeks after declaring a climate emergency and renewing their 2030 zero carbon target.
XR says this shows the County Council is either happy to be hoodwinked by the lies from the developer, or they simply do not take seriously their promises and commitment to the health of their constituents.
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Jo Bucklow, self employed, 60, from Gedling, says, “Burning plastic bottles, dirty nappies, food waste – how is that green? And then everyone in the Trent Valley gets to breathe it in.”
“The Met Office has just announced that the UK is already suffering from the climate crisis, that things will only get worse – and the Council is building another incinerator?” says Dr. Leora Hadas, 36, lecturer at University of Nottingham. “It feels like we’re banging our heads on a brick wall.”
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The County Council’s own report shows that the new incinerator would put 30 thousand tonnes more of CO2 per year into the air than sending the waste to landfill.
XR says the Council is ignoring clean heating technologies such as energy from compost and geothermal heat from disused mines.
Nottingham City Council which owns the Eastcroft incinerator says that using it to turn waste into energy is significantly better from an environmental perspective than sending waste to landfill, which generates methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases.
Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Energy, Environment and Waste Services, Cllr Sally Longford, said:
“Using the Eastcroft incinerator to turn waste into energy is significantly better from an environmental perspective than sending waste to landfill, which generates methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases.
“We are working towards carbon neutrality by 2028 and are acutely aware that we need to continue to reduce emissions.
“We have worked with the operator to improve the processes at the incinerator to reduce sulphur, nitrous oxides and fine particle metals going into the atmosphere.
“Anything that doesn’t burn like glass and metal should go for recycling, and the ash created is used in road building and other construction projects.
“We urge all our citizens to recycle right to minimise the waste going to be incinerated.
“Around 5,000 local homes and over 70 city businesses are being heated and lit from the 4,000 tonnes of waste a week collected locally. It is the most efficient way of dealing with waste and generating low carbon energy by comparison to using fossil fuels to generate this energy.”
Nottingham City Council has no involvement in the plans for a waste energy incinerator plant at Ratcliffe on Soar.
