"Large waste incinerators discourage re-use, recycling and composting"
What Are Bucks CC Proposing ?
Bucks County Council’s Waste Development Plan has listed Wapseys Wood, Gerrards Cross (site B) as its preferred site for a large municipal waste incinerator, with Springfield Farm, Beaconsfield (site A)as a reserve site. Bucks County Council will not be able to continue burying waste in landfill sites, but there is no justification for 210,000 tonnes of waste per year being burned in an incinerator with possible health hazards in the vicinity of these residential centres. Studies exist that suggest it is inappropriate to locate incineration plants so close to communities and, in the case of this proposal, the 12 schools within a 2 mile radius of Springfield Farm, and the 11 schools within a 2 mile radius of Wapseys Wood, along with numerous crèches and nurseries.
Mass burning (incineration) of waste does not make it disappear. Indeed the way that incineration changes the visible into the invisible and the known into the unknown is one of its most dangerous consequences. Just because you don’t see the pollution does not mean it isn’t there. The end products of incinerating waste are filter fly ash, bottom ash and toxic gas and particulate emissions.
Filter fly ash contains concentrated dioxins and heavy metals, and accounts for about 5% of incinerated waste. It has to be sealed into containers and disposed of as hazardous waste in special landfill sites that are licensed to accept toxic waste. We are concerned about possible accidental releases and eventual leaching from these disposal sites.
Bottom ash could account for 30% of the original mass. It is not classified as hazardous waste in the UK. In Europe Austria and Hungary treat it as hazardous waste, while others define it as non-hazardous material but impose stringent tests. Japan officially says it is non-hazardous but in reality the ash is vitrified to seal metals and dioxin-like chemicals for recycling. In the US the ash has to pass Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure. The threat of liability for years to come has deterred many operators from using their ash.
Bottom ash does contain the same toxins as fly ash but at reduced concentrations. It is not inconceivable that eventually bottom ash will be classified as hazardous material in Europe. That will add further costs to incineration and may change the economic basis for justifying the incinerator.
The example incinerator described in the Bucks County Council WDPD Preferred Options Consultation Report which could be installed at Springfield Farm or Wapseys Wood would require 264 HGV movements a week just for the incinerator tonnage, and could be much much more for the total volume to a Strategic Waste Complex, on the already congested roads of South Bucks.
BCC’s preferred technology is a single large incinerator which provides energy from the waste burned by it. They don’t say that it will produce huge CO2 emissions in the process, much more than would be produced by a conventional gas fired electricity generation plant.