Can we stop this huge South London incinerator (near Mitcham Common) ?

[craignicol]

For info / Sign up / donation to campaign see www.stoptheincinerator.co.uk Facebook 'Stop the South London Incinerator'.
If you go to the FAQs section of the site, you will find some disturbing facts - the site is huge, taking waste from Kington, Merton, Sutton and Croydon

• the chimney had to be raised from 85m to 95m to disperse pollution more
• the contract will permit pollution incidents of up to 4 hours (3h 59m 59s)

You may be persuaded that modern incinerators are somehow safer than old ones - however the filters still can't stop nanoparticles, which are therefore not able to be regulated. These are particles which are small enough to enter the bloodstream, crossing the blood-brain barrier. There is also some evidence that modern incinerators cause a higher incidence of infant mortality (though it is difficult to prove ).

I should have mentioned the obvious point - this does affect Merton residents in a wide vicinity. The height of the chimney will disperse nano particles for several miles. The incinerator must be continually fed in order to keep its burn efficiency, so it is estimated that approx 600 lorry loads per day will be transported across South London to the incinerator.

The justification for incineration : we are offered a choice between burning or landfill. This omits the idea of changing packaging to make it more recyclable, or simply producing less packaging.

I wonder what the alternative is though?

And if not in Mitcham will it not be located elsewhere, so it becomes some other residents' problem????

Thanks HaydonWomble - that is an important point - please talk about this to whoever you can, so at least there is a proper debate. Ideally we'd have many more people educating themselves on this, and being vigilant in their area, so that incinerators will only be installed if they are proven safe.

Incinerators are presented as inevitable - if not built here, then they'll have to be built there. However, there is an alternative - how about changing packaging / using paper bags more / changing people's shopping habits ?

At present, it is possible to say that evidence for safety to the public is inconclusive from a scientific point of view; however there are obviously strong financial incentives to present incinerators as the only acceptable alternative to landfill, being 'green-washed' as an alternative source of energy. A recent scientific report shows incinerators produce about the same level of nanoparticle pollution as diesel cars, which is used as an argument for being acceptable. However, this may soon not be an acceptable test ; we are just starting to think of urgently trying to reduce diesel emissions - and indeed the past 15 years of promoting them as 'greener' than petrol may well have been one big mistake. Also very important - although incinerators may produce similar concentrations of nanoparticles to diesel cars, the nanoparticles from incincerators are potentially more dangerous, as they have more heavy metals stuck to them (known toxins), so the report suggests further investigation is needed. The contract for this incinerator locks us in to 25 years of incineration, and it will take a long time to stop it once its up and running, should evidence gradually emerge that this does cause a public health problem.