facts & figures 

Incinerators emit large quantities of CO2, roughly one tonne of CO2 for every tonne incinerated. About half of this CO2 derives from fossil sources such as plastic. For decades incinerators have been releasing harmful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without compensating society for the associated harm that this has caused. In June 2011 Defra acknowledged (in their Economics of Waste and Waste Policy publication) that incinerators were “creating GHG emissions without paying the relevant price”. Unlike power stations, waste incinerators are not currently part of the Emissions Trading Scheme, and therefore the relevant BEIS carbon prices to use are those for non-traded carbon. There are plans for incinerators in the UK to be included in the UK ETS from 2028.

As we get closer to achieving our recycling targets there is increasingly less ‘residual’ waste available to burn, but more incineration capacity is continuing to be built. As such, the UK already faces incineration overcapacity, with more incineration capacity than genuinely residual waste available to burn. Despite this, there are dozens of proposals for new incinerators in the UK (see map/table) which, if built, would exacerbate overcapacity and come at the expense of opportunities to improve recycling. These facts underpin calls for a moratorium on new waste incineration capacity in the UK.