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Waste Into Energy

Volume 174: debated on Monday 18 June 1990

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of industrial and municipal refuse is currently converted into useful energy by combustion in the United Kingdom, each of the EEC and Scandinavian countries.

The World Health Organisation has made the following estimates of percentages by weight:

Country
United Kingdom3
Belgium7
Denmark30
France25
Italy4
Netherlands30
Spain4
W. Germany30
Norway15
Sweden40
The United Kingdom's low proportion is partly explained by the ready availability of landfill.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the reduction in greenhouse gas release he expects from combustion of waste into energy projects, as a contribution to the Government's declared target by 2005.

Power generation by waste incineration or the combustion of methane from landfill sites results in no net addition of CO2 to the environment. Indeed, in replacing power generated by fossil fuel burning, it may actually help to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.Estimates of the contribution of such technologies to reduction in greenhouse gas release are under development. Overall Government strategy to stabilise CO

2 emissions at 1990 levels by 2005 will be presented in the environment White Paper to be published in the autumn.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the incineration plants currently operational in the United Kingdom, identifying those that convert waste into useful heat or electricity; how much such energy is produced: and which incinerators currently meet the agreed proposed EEC pollution standards.

There are 35 incinerators, as follows:

LocationEnergy produced (megawatts)
Alloa
Altrincham
Basingstoke
Belfast
Bolton
Bristol
Coventry40
Derby
Dudley
Dundee
Edmonton, north London40
Exeter
Havant
Huddersfield
Jersey3
Lichfield
Mansfield
Marchwood, Fawley, Hants
Nottingham28
Portsmouth
Renfrew
Rochdale
Scillies
Sheffield24
South Shields
Stoke on Trent
Sunderland
Swindon
Teesside
LocationEnergy produced (megawatts)
Tynemouth
Tysley, Birmingham
Winchester
Wolverhampton
Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire
York
None yet meets the standards which will be required in 1996.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the increased proportion of waste he expects will be combusted into useful energy, as a result of the Environmental Protection Bill; and if he will seek to amend the Bill in order to provide stronger incentives or regulation, to achieve the potential.

The waste disposal provisions in the Bill, aimed at improving standards, will undoubtedly have the effect of increasing landfill costs, thus improving the competitiveness of incineration as a disposal option. In tandem with this, the Bill also requires the waste disposal authority, when framing the terms of disposal contracts, to have regard to the desirability of including conditions designed to maximise the recycling of waste under the contract. These measures should have the effect of encouraging energy-from-waste schemes. The Government have no intention of further amending the Bill in the way my hon. Friend suggests.