waste

Publication date: June 2002

Summary
The Basingstoke incinerator, which is due to completed in October, will burn ninety thousand tonnes of household rubbish every year. It is one of three currently under construction in Hampshire and will burn municipal waste from the north of the county. It is owned and will be operated by French waste disposal company Onyx.

On 21 March 2001, the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Select Committee, a multi-party group taxed with looking at, amongst other things, waste issues, released their report, Delivering Sustainable Waste Management. The report delivers a stinging analysis of the inadequacies of the Labour Government's current waste strategy. The following material is excerpted from the Select Committee press release announcing publication of the report.

A Better way

A printable map of nuclear transport routes across the UK by land and sea.

The recent European Landfill Directive will force the UK to reduce the amount of organic waste it disposes of in landfill sites. This is causing panic among waste disposal authorities, which have failed for years to address the question of what to do sustainably with our household waste. Local authorities in the UK are now stampeding towards huge incineration plants, capable of burning 200,000 tonnes or more of rubbish per annum, to meet the EU targets.

European Environment Agency

The incineration of waste is a subject of considerable public concern. In the absence of effective controls, harmful pollutants may be emitted to air, land and water where they may contribute to human health and environmental impacts, acidification and damage to the environment on a local and regional level. It is widely recognised that whilst incineration of waste - preferably with heat recovery - can form an important part of an integrated waste management system, strict controls are required to prevent adverse environmental impacts.