Petition to stop an incinerator being built in Surrey [title edited by MNHQ]

[Discopanda]

I live in Middlesex but we are also governed by Surrey County Council. They're going ahead with plans to build an incinerator at the local tip and recycling centre. Didn't ask people's opinions, they're basically just doing it for the money (they get £2million from Sita) and I feel really let down by the council's attitude. They're well aware that this means major damage to the environment, the air quality and people's heath, including increased rates of asthma and certain cancers. People have been protesting, trying to raise money to parliament, it's all falling on deaf ears. AIBU to have completely lost faith in local politics?
There are a couple of ongoing petitions, including this one epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/69081 if anybody wants to sign.

And your alternative to getting rid of all your rubbish..........is.......?

There are lots of alternatives that don't involve leaking toxic chemicals into the air.

Councils pay per tonne of rubbish dumped. Would you happily pay more council tax? Double perhaps? Triple?

In a few years your council won't have enough money to fund social care services let alone do anything else. You'll be burning your rubbish yourself! Maybe

Annoying but unsure of an alternative OP if that's the best option OP. Councillors don't like doing things that piss people off. After all they want to get reelected.

Such as? There's no room left for rubbish anymore so it has to be burnt. Councils have no money either so if they can create some this way then it helps their budget. I understand you don't like it but these things are going up all over and will continue to do so.

Really interested to hear your alternatives OP.

'There are lots of alternatives that don't involve leaking toxic chemicals into the air.'

Such as? Burying it involves leaking toxic chemicals into the soil and water.

I've never had any faith in local politics - especially the planning department. Amazing how often the planners will wave through everything that the council itself has asked permission for... Consultations galore and all a complete waste of taxpayers' money since they've already decided what they are going to do anyway and will ignore the opinions of anyone who attempts to put a spoke in their wheel (yes, I did try once and got nowhere!).

Can we see the evidence you have of this environmental damage etc?

Sounds like it could be a positive move from the council. Rubbish has to be dealt with somehow, we just produce too much.

If you burn the rubbish at a high enough temperature the fumes are burnt up too. And filters take csre of the rest. We have them all over denmark.

Incinerators are a TERRIBLE environmental option. It is wasteful, it stops councils from putting much more eco-friendly policies in place like recycling, and it releases greenhouse gas emissions (those who say that it doesn't are relying on some very dubious modelling). There are much better ways of dealing with waste. As people who, by definition, should care about the next generation, this is a really important issue for the future.

OP, can I suggest that you get in touch with these guys. They are awesome, and have a great deal of expertise in helping local campaigns against incinerators. And they're really nice!

ukwin.org.uk/oppose-incineration/

Anyone who wants more information should check out the link I just posted above - lots of footnotes that you can follow up.

Getting rid of waste is never going to be good for the environment, but it has to be done somehow.

I'm interested to hear what you think would be a better alternative for this particular council and why it would be better.

OP You are a SOBBY. You want it in Some Other Bugger's Back Yard.

Andrew also known as a NIMBY - nit in my back yard.

I very much doubt they are building an incinerator. The Environment Agency wouldn't allow it for one thing. They will be building an 'energy from waste' facility and generating lots of lovely cheap electricity for the local community. The EA will also stipulate the type of waste that can/cannot be burnt e.g. no easily recyclable materials, no paint, batteries or asbestos.
Hospitals have incinerators for clinical waste, and crematoria are incinerators too - less stringent regulated than EfW. I'd be more concerned if you had a hospital chimney or crematoria near your house!!

We have a waste to energy incinerator near us. It incinerates lots of rubbish and produces electricity for the national grid. Plus there's filtration in the chimneys to minimise any air pollution. I think it's a pretty good way to get rid of rubbish.

You should see the state of Runcorns new incinerator.

Google it. It's a living nightmare

About two minutes of googling shows that this is not an incinerator, it's a gasification facility. Completely different thing. Gosh, I hate when people jump on a bandwagon and don't do any research.

Incineration in a modern plant is very clean, a well built incinerator is like a multicoloured bird soaring into the sky while emitting a song of total joy when compared with most other waste disposal methods for household waste.

It is clean, very little dioxin is formed due to the way that the incinerator operates, most of the small amount of dioxin which does form is trapped in the filters. Also the acidic gases are scrubbed out of the flu gases.

Also it makes recycling more easy, I have toured some incineration plants. I have seen how they harvest scrap metal from the ash pile. The incineration process compacts the waste which saves space in the landfill site. Also the waste is less likely to leach if it is landfilled after burning.

Gasification is even better it forms a useful fuel from the waste

Incineration is good for the environment in terms of greenhouse gases. Methane from a landfill is a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It is better to burn the waste rather than allow to rot and generate methane.

By the way I do not work in the incineration industry, I have no vested interest in it.

We should initially put our time and energies into reducing the amount of waste we produce. Why on earth do I need to have plastic wrapped around my four tins of baked beans when the tills in the supermarket are sophisticated enough to charge a cheaper price per can when I buy four. Why do my yogurts need cardboard wrapped round them? Recycling is all very well, but when we don't need to have produced that waste in the first place . . .

Has the OP come back with any ideas?

Have you guys actually gone away and done any reading?

This is not about NIMBYism - its about there being better ways both of reducing the amount of waste going to landfill (as Scholes says) and of recycling it to conserve energy, and about recycling being a much better alternative in terms of reuse and energy conservation.