Hackney Council Approves Controversial Edmonton Incinerator Amid Environmental Concerns
Hackney Council supports the Edmonton incinerator project despite environmentalists’ warnings about its impact on climate change and air quality.
Hackney, UK, Edmonton Incinerator, Climate Change, Waste Management, Greenhouse Gases
Hackney: Hackney Council has assured residents that a new incinerator used by the local authority to burn rubbish is “the least environmentally damaging” method of waste management, despite warnings that it is “the dirtiest form of power”.
Last week, 35 bodies, including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, and Sustainable Hackney, signed an open letter to cabinet ministers Ed Miliband and Steve Reed. They urged the government to “immediately withdraw support” for the new Edmonton incinerator in Enfield.
The letter highlighted findings from a recent BBC report. It stated that “burning waste produces the same amount of greenhouse gases for each unit of energy as coal power”, making electricity from waste incinerators the UK’s “dirtiest form of power”.
The groups demanded that the government pull its funding for the new facility and its district heat network connections. These connections use heat generated by burning waste to supply energy to multiple places, known as “energy from waste” or EFW.
They also insisted the government revoke development permits granted to the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) for the incinerator.
Among other impacts, “failure to take these steps would undermine the Government’s efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid and provide clean power by 2030”, they argued.
Work on the new Edmonton incinerator at Edmonton Eco Park began in September 2022. The facility is expected to be fully operational by 2027.
Despite the warnings, Cllr Sarah Young, cabinet member for climate change, environment, and transport, stated that the new “energy recovery facility” is “currently the least environmentally damaging way to manage non-recyclable waste”.
“This project ensures we have a modern, publicly-owned facility with the latest technology to minimise emissions, provide lower carbon energy for local homes and businesses, and reduce the need for fossil fuels,” she said.
NLWA’s chair, Cllr Clyde Loakes, has also written to Ed Miliband regarding the group’s demands. He argued that there are “no grounds” to revoke the permit and that cancelling the facility would hurt the UK’s decarbonisation efforts.
“The network in Edmonton is already built and is ready to take heat energy from the new energy recovery facility,” he stated.
“The impacts of not completing [it] would be detrimental to north London residents and our efforts to tackle the climate emergency,” he added.
The BBC’s investigation included warnings from scientists that incinerating rubbish is a “disaster for the climate”. It found that while the UK has abandoned coal power, the number of active incinerators in England has increased from 38 to 52 in the last five years.
Cllr Young suggested that the issues of environmental impact relate more to the quantity of waste rather than emissions from burning it.
“One of the long-term goals in our climate action plan is to reduce non-recyclable waste by encouraging recycling and reuse,” she explained.
“Ultimately, the less waste there is, the less there is to burn. Hackney offers excellent recycling services to its residents, including weekly recycling across the borough and weekly food waste collection for all houses and nearly all flats.”
The Environmental Services Agency contested the BBC’s findings, stating that emissions from waste management are “challenging to avoid”.
Figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) showed residual carbon dioxide emissions from EFW increased from 2.2 million tonnes in 2016 to 2.7 million tonnes in 2020.
In the same period, residual CO2 emissions from landfill fell by nearly 1 million tonnes.
Critics of the “oversized” facility claim its costs have “spiralled” out of control, recently increasing by 25 percent to £1.5 billion. This has delayed the project by two years, according to NLWA.
The letter points to the waste authority’s assessment that carbon capture technology, aimed at mitigating CO2 emissions, would not be installed in the Edmonton incinerator until 2035 at the earliest, “if at all”.
NLWA’s strategy document states that successful implementation of any post-combustion carbon capture will depend on available funding and financing.
It also notes that carbon mitigation for the facility will require a suitable transport and storage network connection, alongside planning permission.
NLWA has stated that its analysis shows energy from waste is “the best value for north London’s council tax payers”.