Plastics is the oil & gas industries Plan B … incinerating it simply adds to the emissions
Plastic production is set to grow exponentially – undermining climate commitments
Channel 4 is screening its Dispatches ‘The dirty truth about your rubbish’ programme the night before this newsletter comes out – Lucy Sielge – see below
Client Earth commissioned Eunomia to produce the report this programme is based on
Revealed: why hundreds of thousands of tonnes of recycling are going up in smoke
Investigation questions eco-friendly claims of incineration industry
Guardian When it comes to planet-friendly habits, recycling is by far the UK’s most popular, with 87% of householders claiming they do so regularly, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme. But an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches into where our rubbish goes, and the role played by energy-from-waste incineration plants, has found that millions of tonnes of our carefully sorted empties are simply being burned after they’re collected.
Freedom of information requests reveal that, on average, 11% of rubbish collected for recycling is incinerated. In some areas the figures are far higher: 45% in Southend-on-Sea and 38% in Warwickshire.
The Dispatches team also found a direct correlation between regions tied into incineration contracts and low recycling rates. In England, more waste is now burned than recycled – 11.6 million tonnes was incinerated in 2019 while 10.9 million was sent for recycling. There are 48 energy-from-waste incinerators across the country, and industry figures show 18 more are planned.
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