Another general update (14 October 2008)

Bedfordshire
Outline Business Case for Bedfordshire Energy and Recycling (BEAR) project rubber stamped by Bedford Borough Council’s implementation executive.
See Incinerator gets the green light but not the green backing
and Lib Dems step up campaign to sabotage plans for Rookery pit incinerator

North London
The authority that manages north London’s waste says it has come up with a plan to reduce reliance on an out-of-date incinerator.
See North London to cut incineration

The North London Waste Authority has announced that it plans to submit an Outline Business Case to Defra before the end of this month in a bid to secure a record £520 million in PFI funding for its MBT-based waste treatment project. Representatives from the Authority’s seven member councils will be asked to approve the OBC on October 29, allowing it to be submitted for funding before the October 31 deadline for the current round of PFI awards.
See North London prepares record £520m PFI bid

Nottingham
The planning inquiry into expansion of WRG’s Eastcroft Incinerator in Nottingham ended on 24 September with the Inspector saying he would produce his report by the end of October. This report will now go to the Secretary of State (SoS) for a final decision which will be issued on or before 19 February 2009. The reason given is because of its major significance to the government’s climate
change programme and energy policies.

WRG might have thought this would help their case. The existing two furnaces in the incinerator provide heat for a district heating scheme as well as electricity, so they argued this is an ideal location for an incinerator. However, they refused to put in the investment required to expand the district heating system so the actual planning application was for an electricity-only third line. WRG’s own calculation showed that the proposed incinerator wouldn’t meet the ‘recovery’ target in the draft revised Waste Framework Directive. We will have to wait and see how the SoS deals with that.

WRG also produced a calculation purporting to show that the proposed third line would save net climate change emissions compared to landfill. However we showed that simply by including emissions from biogenic carbon the incinerator would be no better than landfill. Again, we will have to wait and see how the SoS deals with that.

Oxfordshire
Protestors against plans for an incinerator in Oxfordshire have used lasers to project their message into the night sky. An image reading “no incinerator” was beamed onto a cooling tower at Didcot power station on Monday evening.
See Illuminating incinerator protest

Plymouth (Ernesettle)
A first meeting has been held to set up a steering group for an action group in Ernesettle. By all accounts it was a successful meeting, attracting a good spread of people from the affected areas. Geraldine Lane was elected Chair of the group which is to be called STIFLE – Stop The Incinerator Fouling Land at Ernesettle! Watch this space for more…

Surrey
Capel incinerator receives planning permission! Surrey County Council has approved plans to build an 110,000 tonne-a-year incinerator at Capel, but local residents are planning a legal challenge. See www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=10482 and http://newenergyfocus.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=1&listcatid=32&listitemid=1785&section=Bioenergy%20%26%20Waste

Friends of the Earth (FoE)
FoE welcomes new national campaigner
Gaelle Legroux has started as the new campaigner in the Resource Use team at Friends of the Earth, filling the position left vacant when Anna Watson moved into the Rights and Justice team. Here is a message from Gaelle to introduce herself:

Who am I? Well, first I’m French, which you’ll quickly notice if you call me on the phone. My background is mainly European and combines two main areas: media and environment. As for the first, I worked as a TV journalist in France, then in Belgium with the TV channel Euronews on European affairs. I also worked as an editor for the European Parliament website, writing daily articles in French on a wide range of issues, including climate and environment.

Apart from being a personal commitment, environment also constitutes my second strong professional experience. I first worked with the French Green Party during the European elections campaign in 2003-2004, producing thematic sheets used by activists and writing the electoral program of the party (what they will fight for if elected in the EP) and other campaign materials targeting voters. In the end 6 French Greens MEP were elected and one of them took me in her suitcase to Brussels. I worked as an assistant for 2 years, following the environment Committee with an MEP focused on biodiversity and climate. REACH and LIFE+ were the two main legislative files at that moment but I also followed the directive on waste.

Wishing to have a new start in London, I applied with Friends of the Earth – an organisation I used to know and work with in Brussels – and just started as a waste campaigner with Michael Warhurst and Becky Slater. I’ll work with them on UK and European policies, and will probably meet you at some point! I can be contacted at gaelle.legroux@foe.co.uk or 020 7566 1630.

In other news…

New Minister for Recycling and Waste
Jane Kennedy has been appointed minister for waste and recycling in place of Joan Ruddock as part of the Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s major ministerial reshuffle – see http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=10480

Joan Ruddock has moved to the new department of energy and climate change – see http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=10470

Recycling litter funds honeymoon
A couple spent three months collecting and recycling litter to pay for their honeymoon flights.
Quote from the groom: “There was enough rubbish out there to fly us to the moon and back.”
See the BBC news piece. Also see Scottish household waste recycling rate reaches 31.7% where they describe “Reverse Vending”

Veolia ripped off by Italian Waste company
It appears that Veolia purchased a dodgy incinerator only to find that managers have been fiddling emissions monitors downward hiding rocket high emissions. Local towns have high local cancer and respiratory illness are significantly higher than in other parts of Italy, with young girls were reaching puberty early, even if they still had the stature and appearance of other girls of a similar age. Veolia is reportedly not very pleased to see its shiny new plant locked down while work is carried out to bring the unit back up to safety levels

Defective Incinerator Plant Sold to French Company
Down in Pietrasanta near Lucca in Tuscany, there is a waste incinerator plant. Formerly owned by the Italian company Termomeccanica, this plant was recently acquired from its Italian owner by the French company Veolia. Shortly after taking control of the plant, the new French owners were not all that happy to discover that the incinerator plant’s emission levels had been fiddled with to bring them within legal limits. The police were called in and their investigations resulted in the suspension of the incinerator plant manager. Additionally, a hard disk containing software apparently written specifically to modify the reporting of emission levels was confiscated…” [Source]

My sincere thanks to all who called my attention to the reports in this update! Shlomo