A special meeting of North Lanarkshire Council’s Planning and Transportation Committee was held at the Motherwell Civic Centre to consider an incinerator application from Shore Energy.

The Committee voted unanimously to reject the application by Simon Howie’s company to build a pyrolysis incinerator in the Carnbroe/Shawhead area of Coatbridge, on the site of a former Shanks McEwan landfill.

Mr Howie intends to appeal to Scottish Government and campaigners are ready to give evidence in opposition to the scheme. More details are available from the Green Alternatives to Incineration in Scotland website.

The Coatbridge victory represents the fifth Scottish incinerator to have been refused planning consent in the last 6 months. In each case the companies are in the process of appealing to Scottish Ministers, meaning a local public inquiry by the Government ‘Reporter’.

There are more applications in the pipeline. See http://www.gainscotland.org.uk/proposed-facilities.shtml for details.

The people of Abernethy are facing the toughest struggle of all, because they are two miles downwind of a proposed incinerator at Binn Farm that received planning consent in 2006.

Plans to build one of Scotland’s largest incinerators (100,000 tonnes per annum) in Peterhead have been rejected by Aberdeenshire Council. The proposed development had sparked a storm of protest in the town over health fears, and more than 6,000 people – equivalent to a third of Peterhead’s population – had signed a petition opposing it.

Members of the local Buchan area committee had voted by six to five last month in favour of the development, despite a recommendation by senior planning officials that it be rejected. The senior planners argued the site selection process undertaken by CHP had not been robust and fell short of justifying the site at Peterhead as being suitable for the energy-from-waste facility.

On 21st January 2010, following a lengthy debate, councillors voted 49-13 to reject the incinerator application.

John Askey, the resident who launched the campaign against the proposed plant, is quoted as saying:

We are absolutely delighted with the decision. The people of Peterhead will be over the moon. The threat of this incinerator has been hanging over the town for almost two years, and it has put a great strain on the people of Peterhead.

LetsRecycle reports how Aberdeenshire council’s planning and environment services said Buchan’s incinerator application did not comply with the necessary planning policies.

MEETINGS
There will be a meeting at 2.30 p.m. with MSPs, following which, campaign representatives will meet with Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment and Rural Affairs. For those who would like to attend the meeting with MSPs, please get in touch with Michael Gallagher, who is making the arrangements for the demo and meeting:
email: mpgallagher@btconnect.com

SCOTTISH NO-BURN ACTION DAY WEBSITE
The website address for Scottish No-Burn Action Day is at:
http://www.snbad.info

PETITION
Please would you sign the following petition?
Go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Ban_The_Burn_In_Scotland/
You can also access the petition via the website http://www.snbad.info/petition.htm

NEW WASTE STRATEGY FOR SCOTLAND – CONSULTATION
Submissions are invited to the Scottish Government’s new Waste Strategy. The Waste Strategy gives an opportunity to challenge the established way of dealing with waste:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/waste-and-pollution/Waste-1/wastestrategy

As well as comments on the draft Plan, the Scottish Government would welcome your comments on the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): Environmental Report which we are also publishing today. We would also welcome your comments on the UK Packaging Strategy.

INCINERATOR LOCATIONS and TONNAGE PER ANNUM (TPA)
BUILT
Baldovie, Dundee – 120,000
Shetland – 23,000
Dumfries – 60,000

PLANNING PERMISSION GIVEN
Irvine – 80,000
Greengairs – 300,000
Perth – 90,000
Glenfarg, near Abernethy, Perth – 60,000
Elgin – 30,000

PLANNING APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED
Coatbridge – 80,000
Peterhead – c. 130,000

PROPOSALS
`west of Glasgow` – 120,000
Millerhill, Midlothian (but really within the city limits of Edinburgh) – c.
200,000
Nigg, Easter Ross, Highland – only a possibility at this stage

TOTAL = 1.293 million + tonnes per annum
for a nation of just over 5 million people

SUCCESSFULLY DEFEATED!!
Invergordon – 200,000
Dunbar – 300,000

Incinerator Protest Song Aims To Set Charts Ablaze – less than a fortnight to iTunes release.

The countdown has started to the release of Scottish-based film-maker Ro J Goodwin’s incinerator protest song on Monday 28 September, 2009.

The song “It Was Madness”, recorded under the name Ro J, is being released to coincide with Global No-Burn Action Day, and will be sold online via iTunes.

Ro J will perform an acoustic version of the song outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Thursday 1 October at 1pm where he will join Scottish Communities gathering to mark No-Burn Action Day.

Join the 2009 Global Day of Action on Waste and Incineration

UKWIN is working in partnership with many others, especially The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives / Global Anti Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) to invite our members and allied groups to join the 8th Global Day of Action against Waste and Incineration on September 30, 2009.

About the latest anti-incineration song, Ro J said:

I wrote this song to spread far and wide the insanity of burning our waste, and to help communities faced with a fight like our own in Invergordon. We want lots of people to buy it, and help to set the charts on fire!

Ro J’s song is a folk/rock song inspired by the campaign he successfully helped to fight in his hometown of Invergordon in the Scottish Highlands, with truly impassioned lyrics and a memorable folk tune likened to ‘a rocking Cat Stevens with a cause’.

…keep up the good work!!

- Richard Jobson, TV Presenter & Film Director

Ro is a stalwart…this song could go on to be the ‘universal anthem’ against incineration.

- Catherine Richmond, Leader, Invergordon Campaign Group

A delightfully well written account of looking at the consequences of our actions before it is indeed too late

- Karen Mackey, Scottish Midwife

A taster is available on http://www.wix.com/itwasmadness/RoJ and CD’s are available on request.

The 2009 Global Day of Action on Waste and Incineration will once again focus on GAIA’s Waste and Climate and Change campaign to strengthen awareness on how wasting contributes to climate change.

We will do this by highlighting the following messages:

• Materials flow in the human system is responsible for more than half of greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions. To address this, it is necessary to drastically change our production, consumption and disposal habits.
• Dirty Technologies and quick-fix solutions like incineration and landfills do not just contribute to climate change but also impact human health and the environment.
• Zero waste is an essential strategy to combat climate change.

According to the IPCC Fourth Assessment report on Climate Change:

Waste minimization, recycling, and re-use represent an important and increasing potential for indirect reduction of GHG emissions through the conservation or raw materials, improved energy and resource efficiency and fossil fuel avoidance.

Hence the theme: “Zero Waste for Zero Warming”

To register your activities for the Global Day of Action (GDA) visit the GAIA website

This UKWIN Update attempts to bring together just some of what has been happening since our previous update. Inevitably I will miss some important items, so please feel invited to add more information of interest by leaving a comment on the UKWIN website (below).

Global Day of Action
UKWIN is joining forces with campaigners around the globe who are organising a Global day of Action Against Incineration. For more details please contact Neil.

Cheshire
The government has approved plans to build a 95MW incinerator in Cheshire which is set to burn 600,000 tonnes of refuse-derived fuel a year. The decision is obviously a disappointment for all those who campaigned hard to prevent this permission from being granted. Due to the current economic climate, and to the lack of local authority contracts, the facility, although approved, may never be built. Watch this (sad) space…
Links:
http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=53154
and
http://www.runcornandwidnesweeklynews.co.uk/runcorn-widnes-news/runcorn-widnes-local-news/2009/08/20/mike-hall-mp-slams-ince-marshes-incinerator-plan-go-ahead-because-of-existing-ineoschlor-runcorn-plans-55368-24490218/
and
http://www.crewechronicle.co.uk/crewe-news/local-crewe-news/2009/08/19/middlewich-incinerator-protestors-demand-council-bosses-reject-plans-96135-24472513/

Veolia High Court
Veolia have taken legal action against their waste partner Nottinghamshire County Council. The case, involving the right of the public to see how public money is being spent on delivering public services, is being heard on Tuesday 25th August 2009 at the High Court.

WASTE COMPANY IN COURT BATTLE TO KEEP WASTE CONTRACT SECRET FROM RESIDENTS

A French-owned waste company is going to the High Court to try and prevent Nottinghamshire County Council making public details of its £850 million waste management contract and the invoices paid by the Council.

The full hearing of the Judicial Review is taking place after an interim injunction was obtained by Veolia Environmental after council officials agreed to release the information following a request by local resident Shlomo Dowen, of People Against Incineration [PAIN].

Mr Dowen is represented by lawyers from Friends of the Earth’s Rights & Justice Centre.

Information in the contract and the invoices will show how much money Veolia Environmental is charging the local council for each method of treatment (landfill, incineration, recycling, composting, etc.) and will help show whether or not the local authority is getting value for money.

Shlomo Dowen said:

Nottinghamshire residents have a right to seeing how tens of millions of pounds of our money is being spent, and our waste is being dealt with. This information must be made public. Veolia Environmental must not be allowed to keep this information secret.

Friends of the Earth’s executive director Andy Atkins said:

The law gives the public explicit rights to see this type of information precisely so that they can hold authorities to account on major issues such as this. Companies like Veolia that wish to take enormous amounts of public money must recognise that members of the public have an interest in ensuring that the money is well spent.

Mr Dowen has already accessed some information from the Council and has asked the District Auditor to investigate amount of money it is charging Nottinghamshire’s County Council in respect of landfill tax.

Veolia is also embroiled in another controversy with Nottinghamshire County Council over its plans to build an incinerator on a former Colliery site in Sherwood Forest. The company claims that local waste levels are expected to rise significantly in the coming years– a fact hotly disputed by PAIN, who point to evidence that Nottinghamshire’s waste levels have actually fallen.

Hearings for the Public Inquiry into the proposed Sherwood Forest Incinerator will begin on 6th October 2009 in Rainworth, near Mansfield. These hearings are expected to last for three weeks. PAIN is joined at the Inquiry by Newark and Sherwood District Council and Notts Wildlife Trust who also oppose Veolia’s incinerator plans.

Shocked in Shepshed
Residents of Shepshed in Northwest Leicestershire we shocked to learn of possible plans for an incinerator in their village. The plans for an incinerator near Shepshed have been put forward by Biffa. Biffa are one of three companies short-listed by the County Council to build a new facility to process the County’s waste. Leicester Friends of the Earth have backed local residents in their opposition to plans to build a giant waste incinerator near Shepshed. You can read more about this at:
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Fury-grows-incinerator-plan/article-1276006-detail/article.html
and
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Massive-waste-burner-planned-Leicestershire/article-1273645-detail/article.html
and
http://www.letsrecycle.com/do/ecco.py/view_item?listid=37&listcatid=217&listitemid=53228

Emerging Global Anti-Covanta coalition
Campaigners from North America are joining with others faced with the prospect of a Covanta-run incinerator in locations around the world to share information and campaign tips. UKWIN is supporting this effort. If you would like to join this coalition, please contact paul@fluoridealert.org

Invergordon
“Controversial plans for a £43m waste incinerator in Invergordon have been rejected by Highland Council.” “Planners snubbed over Invergordon project…Company considers appeal…Highland town celebrates as waste plan thrown out…” “Highland Council chief executive Alistair Dodds is considering a plea from SNP opposition group leader John Finnie to launch an inquiry into his senior planners’ handling of the application.”
See
http://www.north-star-news.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4964/Incinerator_plan_is_extinguished.html
and
http://www.highlandlibdems.org.uk/news/000155/thurso_welcomes_decision_to_throw_out_plan_for_incinerator_in_invergordon.html
and
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/highlands_and_islands/8204937.stm

Perth
“Residents against the building of a waste incinerator in Perth believe the local council acted unlawfully when granting outline planning permission…Outline planning consent for the development was granted in 2006, but full details only emerged this year. The Grundon Waste Management plans for the £100m incinerator, which include a 260ft chimney, have attracted hundreds of objections. Bridgend, Gannochy and Kinnoull Community Council hired planning lawyers to look into the matter.” “The community council turned to Roy Martin QC and advocate Stephen O’Rourke in their David versus Goliath battle to prevent English-based Grundon Waste Management creating a towering £100 million recycling plant on the Shore Road.”
See:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8213662.stm
and
http://www.perthshireadvertiser.co.uk/perthshire-news/local-news-perthshire/perth-city/2009/08/21/community-council-reveal-incinerator-legal-hurdle-73103-24492774/

RAID – Residents Against Inappropriate Developments
In their August 2009 e-newsletter the newly formed RAID are announcing their plans for further public meetings to inform more people about the proposed developments associated with the Hatfield Power Park (Doncaster) and especially one known as the DEW Project. If you have not yet seen the presentation or know someone who has not seen it please come along on one of the dates below:
Thorne – 3rd September at the Assembly Rooms
Dunscroft – 9th September at St Lawrence Community Centre
Dunsville – 18th September at the Community Centre
Hatfield Woodhouse – 25th September in the Village Hall
Stainforth – 2nd October at the Resource Centre (Old Folks Centre)
All the meetings will start at 7.30pm.

Also, the Barnsley Doncaster and Rotherham (Dearne Valley) Joint Strategic Waste consultation is coming to Dunsville Community Centre. On Friday 4th September there will be a public consultation meeting at Dunsville Community Centre to discuss the suitability of Hatfield Power Park as a waste management site as part of the DPD process. There will be a display from 2pm until 5pm and then a presentation from 6pm until 8pm with questions and answers.

Please encourage anyone you know to visit the RAID website and sign the online petition.

Newcastle
An ongoing political row is rumbling on over the issue of the incineration of waste in Newcastle.
See:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/the-environment/go-green-news/2009/06/20/controversial-debate-over-newcastle-incinerator-72703-23932252/

Crymlyn Burrows
There is news on the infamous Crymlyn Burrows Incinerator on the outskirts of Swansea. Neath Port Talbot Council has accepted a payout of £6.7 Million in a court case against the firm of consultants that advised them to go ahead with the plant. The local residents are also taking a class action suit against the incinerator for the odour problems it is causing. For those unfamiliar with the background story see the Swansea FoE website.

Jersey
“A damning new report on the euro rate incinerator fiasco has raised serious concerns about the management of the Treasury.”
See
http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/08/10/incinerator-report-serious-concerns-over-treasury/

Kingston
KINGSTON AGAINST INCINERATION NETWORK
Networked to UK WIN – Networking Communities fighting Incineration
The last Kingston Council “consultation” workshop on Waste and last year’s Energy seminar did not reflect adequately input from local residents and there were various individual protests at the waste workshop. It is therefore very important that there is grassroots understanding and consensus on this before the waste consultation workshop on the 16th September to ensure that what we want is not manipulated into what we don’t want…For more info contact PennyKFOE@aol.com

A letter from the Co-ordinator of Colchester and NE Essex Friends of the Earth, Paula Whitney to her local Gazette Letters page:

Dear Editor,

Cllr Tim Young (6 Aug) has robustly defended Colchester council’s formal opposition to the Essex Waste Strategy last May when the coalition took control. Last autumn Colchester’s Cabinet formally opposed the county’s second bid for PFI funding since 2005. Well done!

Cllr Tina Dopson informed Defra that Colchester did not support the
bid. Our LibDem MP Bob Russell, many opposition councillors and campaigners told Defra and the Minister this, and that many thousands of Essex people have opposed MBT and incineration since 1999.

Since May 2006 waste PFI rules require bids to show that all relevant councils and the public ‘have been consulted and that there is broad
consensus’. Hence the 2008 trick public consultation, widely
condemned as misleading.

Colchester rather put a spoke in the last PFI bid by pulling out. If we can scupper the bid we will save Essex council taxpayers huge costs and recycle and compost more instead.

Now the surprise news has just hit the headlines (3 Aug) of a third
desperate attempt by ECC for costly PFI finance from Government. This one deftly includes Colchester as one of the councils supporting the bid as a member of the previous Essex waste ‘Partnership’. Pardon?

The ‘MBT’ plant for 351,000 tonnes a year at Basildon would shred and
compost ‘black bag’ waste in massive warehouses, reducing its weight
by a fifth. ECC officers said it may be landfilled or turned into polluting fuel pellets to burn in an incinerator on one of the sites.

Let’s hope Colchester council, our MP and some of us can move fast to
inform Defra and the Minister that neither they nor the Essex people
support the PFI bid. These 27.5 year contracts will cost the taxpayers huge sums to destroy our valuable resources.

And finally…
Music to our ears
Yet another anti-incinerator song has been composed. “It Was Madness” will be released on the 14th September. On this note UKWIN has been asked if there is anyone who would be able to help promote the single…

A 1-minute preview of the song can be heard at http://web2.nessmp3.com/bands/1327. There is a possibility it could be a National hit and with it massive exposure for the cause. The artist who wrote and performed the song is keen to do appearances, etc, however he won’t be able to work the ‘machine’ on his own. Are there any offers of help?

Current incinerators/technology
• Dundee, DERL, Baldovie Incinerator- currently there is an issue of whether the technology is meeting the efficiency levels.
• Shetland – CHP technology, there seems to be nothing wrong with the Shetland Incinerator.
• Dumfries and Galloway – RDF
We are looking into the efficiencies of existing efw and monitoring.

Proposed treatment facilities
• Dunbar, Viridor, PPC application withdrawn for the 450,000t facility for down scaling. We provided information and support to the local group fighting this
• Perth, Bin Farm, SITA, just about to hit the PPC application process. SEPA and the government have rejected permission to this incinerator and it still got planning permission to go ahead.
• Highland, – Mainland – they were considering Lochaber at one point but they may have changed this, the current proposal is for a 130,000t facility
- Islands – Portree
• N Lanarkshire

Other Local authorities will be putting more proposals forward. We are campaigning against the proposals that come forward with the groups in the local areas and lobbying the government.

On 24th January the new Scottish Government announced their waste proposals.
• Scotland is designated as ‘on the road to Zero Waste’
• 70% recycling by 2025
• 25% EFW – only small CHP under 100,000 and has to be super efficient.
• Set up a Zero waste think tank which the government decides who sits on this – so far its sepa, CRNS, wrap…more information is yet to come out about this but the first meeting took place in early April.
• A commitment to WP? they may look at targets for this. There is a 2 year old action plan but there is no investment in pushing this! Which is ironic being the centre of the ZW

More areas will be coming forward with new proposals since the waste statement.

Before the statement on the 24th January LA’s had submitted business proposals for the ways they were going to deal with waste with new facilities. This is now not going ahead due to the new conditions and all the proposals before the 24th Jan are non existent, but there were proposals for 10 incinerators and the government had made room for 17 incinerators in total. So the statement is a minor improvement to this.

We had lobbied the government over all the issues but gained some success when Richard Lochhead had received over 70 letters from all over the world, within 12 hrs before he made his speech. SEPA is also reviewing the Thermal treatment guidelines – no consultation process as such for the review, but they have asked me into a meeting to discuss and are sending me the papers for comments.

I am a member of GAIA and we care currently setting up an EU network, and I am on the strategy committee, responsible for setting up the network with a few others. There will be an invitation sent out for groups to join this soon. I am also nominated for the International Steering committee and I sit on the zero waste and the waste and climate change working groups. I am the Scottish director for ZWAUK which has just received charity status and I cover the Scottish side of things. We are now working on a strategy for the work the alliance will do. Other areas related that CATs Scotland is working on that has a cross over with waste is nanotechnology and chemicals. I am also a member of ZWIA and as GAIA will be attending the ZWIA meeting in Florence at the end of April.

Interesting developments – One of the issues which helped to prevent the Dunbar incinerator from going ahead was the issue of nano particles. SEPA have called an urgent meeting to discuss this, they have never dealt with it in Incineration only in air quality monitoring in main streets with loads of traffic. I am being informed about the discussions at the meeting after it happens but they wouldn’t let me attend because it was a private internal meeting.