I'm feeling angry and let down this morning, having had my delusions about the SNP goverment being greener than the old Labour government shattered. They've decided not to object to a new waste-to-energy incinerator being built in Perthshire, despite the objections of local residents and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency. Since Perth & Kinross Council had already green-lighted (if you pardon the pun) the planning application, it means the project will now go ahead.
This is extremely bad news for those gearing up to oppose the proposed Dunbar incinerator and the other nine which are under consideration around the country.
3 comments:
In my view local government see's incineration as the only way to deal with the huge volume of waste. However as the Defra New Technologies Programme has shown there are alternative: Premier Waste Managements Parc facility being one of them. We have been operating for five years turning biological municipal waste into soil conditioner and recycling plastic bags, metals and glass. What the buyers of the incinerator should be asking themselves is what is the carbon footprint of burning the waste?
There are 2-3 very competive technology alternatives to incinerators. Waste Officers are lying if they state incineration is the only,/ best way of tackling residual waste, see below proven treatments:
1) Mechanical Heat Treatment (MHT) or Steam Autoclaving , with tail option combined with plasma arc gasification
eg Bradford, Liverpool, Teeside
http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=9207
http://www.graphiteresources.com/
http://www.sterecycle.com/process.htm
2) Mechanical Biological Treatment with Anaerobic Digestion (MBT/AD)
eg Norfolk, this SRM bid scored BPEO 65/100 compared to 57/100 of the WRG incinerator, so actually higher in quality. Also Lancashire (Global Renewables), Avondale, Falkirk (Oaktech, Arrowbio)
http://www.srm-norfolk.co.uk/photos.html
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/News/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=enonline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED07%20Sep%202007%2014%3A12%3A58%3A000
http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/news/press_releases/y/m/release.asp?id=200509&r=PR05/0295
http://www.oaktech-environmental.com/ArrowBioPlantUnderDevelopmentinFalkirkScotland.htm
3) Plasma Arc Gasification
Plasco Energy locating in Wales Tredegar-based EnviroParks producing 25MW of Energy from Waste "Organic Recovery Park" with modularised AD/Plasma/Biofuel plants working together.
http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=9136
Hope this is useful from my research over the last 2 years
Post a Comment