Hansard records the following exchange, which took place yesterday (30th June 2010) at the House of Commons.

Nadine Dorries (Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire):

The American waste giant, Covanta, is proposing to build in my constituency an incinerator about the size of Wembley. Will the Prime Minister give an assurance that decisions about such matters will be made at a local level in future?

The Prime Minister:

My hon. Friend is right to raise this, and it is right that decisions should be made locally. We want to make sure that all the latest technology for alternatives to incineration is considered, so that we can make sure that we are using the best ways to achieve a green approach.*

This reply from David Cameron is welcomed by UKWIN and will be seen as a positive sign by the coalition of independent Environmental groups campaigning against waste incineration in Gloucestershire and the global Anti-Covanta movement.

Further details of the current situation in Gloucestershire can be found on the Gloucestershire Against Incinerators website, created to serve the Gloucestershire anti-incineration waste campaign.

Several independent Environmental groups are actively campaigning against waste incineration in Gloucestershire, including: GlosAIN (Gloucestershire Against Incinerators), GlosVAIN (Gloucestershire Vale Against Incineration), GFOEN (Gloucestershire Friends of the Earth Network), and the Bishops Cleeve-based SWARD (Safety in Waste and Rubbish Disposal).

The website features a petition calling for Gloucestershire County Council, the District Councils of Gloucestershire and the Government not to accept a large scale incinerator as the solution for dealing with residual waste in Gloucestershire because:
• Tackling climate change is a priority and better technologies are available
• It produces toxic fly ash
• It reduces the incentive to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost thus wasting resources
• It could be a high risk, long term, contractual expense for the local taxpayer
• If needed, residual waste should be treated under short term contracts by small local facilities

The false claims made about incineration by some in the waste industry have been recently criticised by GAIA, see EU incinerator subsidies worsen climate change. GAIA stands for The Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance: Mobilizing grassroots action against the spread of incinerators and other polluting, end-of-pipe waste technologies. GAIA also stands for The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives: Building the movement for environmental justice, local green economies, and creative zero waste solutions.

*Note: According to a video recording David Cameron actually said “Well, my honourable friend is right to raise this and it’s right that decisions should be made locally, and we want to make sure that all the latest technology in terms of alternatives to incineration are looked at so we can actually make sure we are using the best ways to make sure that we have a green approach”.

SWARD has released dramatic photographs showing clouds billowing out of the landfill, across Stoke Road and towards local homes and farm land.

An expert consulted by SWARD has produced a report showing that there is evidence that hazardous dust is leaving the site. is found outside of the site and along the local road.

UKWIN Steering Group member and environmental pollution expert Dr Andrew Tubb said:

The result of my investigations…show beyond reasonable doubt that APC [Air Pollution Control residue from waste incinerators] is found outside of the Wingmoor Farm Hazardous Waste Site. APC is an hazardous material and should not be allowed to escape into the environment.

SWARD’s finding have this week been further reinforced by publication of the long awaited analysis of dust monitoring outside the landfill. A newly published report for the Environment Agency shows that dust from hazardous air pollution control residues (APC) has been found on monitors up to 250 m from the landfill.

SWARD Trustee Barbara Farmer said:

SWARD is not in the slightest surprised by all this damning evidence which shows beyond doubt that hazardous dust is escaping from Wingmoor Farm. This has been denied for years by both Grundon and the Environment Agency. If this is what happens when the site is apparently operating normally, what would happen if there were an accident? No-one can predict the long term impact of this additional chemical burden on our communities.

The reports and photographic evidence vindicate public fears and underline the need for this hazardous waste site to be shut down now.

Air pollution control residues (APCs) are talcum powder fine ash resulting from cleaning of incinerator flue gasses to prevent dangerous particles escaping via the chimney into the environment. They contain lime, used to neutralise the high acidity, and carbon is used to adsorb the dioxins and heavy metals. APCs are categorised as hazardous waste.

Wingmoor Farm was featured on a map of World Hot Spots for Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs (a group of chemicals that are very toxic to people and the environment) due the vast quantities of dioxin laden ash dumped there, the very basic method used to stabilise it, the open nature of the disposal and the site’s proximity to major housing development.

There have been two releases of unwetted APC dust into the air due to mechanical failure at Wingmoor Farm, in 2004 and 2009. The photographs were taken by the SWARD Steering Group in March, after members of the public had contacted SWARD on a number of days regarding the clouds blowing out of the site and across the road.

This story has been covered in The Gloucestershire Echo. The article quotes County Councillor for Bishop’s Cleeve Ceri Jones saying: “the evidence was overwhelming.”

I remember meetings where Grundon were quite clear the dust does not escape from the site. Here is the stark evidence which proves otherwise.

A decision on Grundon’s application for 20 more years of operation at Wingmoor is due later this year.

Both reports are available on request from the UKWIN Coordinator

Download – Map of toxic waste “hot spots” around the world [PDF]

The creators say this map “presents a range of examples from every continent where Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in solid wastes present risks to human health and the environment.”

The map will be presented in Geneva this week (4-8 May) when the 4th conference of the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is held. The Convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from these chemicals

POPs accumulate in the environment and cannot be broken down. DDT has been found in the bloodstream decades after it was banned, even in communities where it was never used. This is a particular concern during pregnancy.

Incineration of waste is one the major creators of dioxins and furans, members of the “dirty dozen” worst POPs.

SWARD’s consultant Alan Watson, Public Interest Consultants, will be presenting the map created by the International Persistent Organic Pollution Elimination Network (IPEN) yesterday (6th May).

Alan Watson said:

Wingmoor Farm is a major dioxin hotspot – comparable with many of the worst contaminated sites around the world. The Stockholm Convention promised to eliminate these extremely dangerous chemicals and the Government should make urgent steps to honour that commitment.

Campaign group SWARD were not surprised to receive the news that Wingmoor Farm had been highlighted. Spokeswoman Barbara Farmer said:

This is shocking news for local residents. SWARD has said for years that dumping waste full of these toxins so close to our homes is a risk to our health. Now that view is being supported at an international level.

The official website of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are a group of chemicals that are very toxic and can cause cancer and other adverse health effects. POPs are persistent in the environment and travel vast distances via air and water. POPs are organic chemical compounds which bioaccumulate in animals and humans. These pollutants are primarily the products and by-products of human industrial processes.

• Incinerator Air Pollution Control residues, containing dioxins and furans, from all over the UK are landfilled at Wingmoor Farm.
• Only 12 sites in the UK are permitted to accept this waste.
• Planning consent for Grundon’s landfills at Wingmoor Farm expires on 12th May 2009. Grundon intend to apply for a further 20 years.

The protesters want to ensure that the companies know that there is major local opposition to incineration.

The protest attracted local and regional media coverage.

The County Council has confirmed that they would expect the contract to include building a new facility. It has used incineration as its model for its bid for £92 million PFI credits and has purchased Javelin Park, Quedegely for its preferred site for a new facility at the cost of over £7 million. Demonstrators fear this shows a preference for a large incinerator on a single site whose toxic fly ash is likely to end up at Wingmoor Farm, Bishops Cleave, Gloucestershire. It is acknowledged by the European Union, the Government and the Environment Agency that incinerators produce toxic fly ash when residual waste is burnt.

SWARD spokeswoman Barbara Farmer said:

Gloucestershire has been the dumping ground for much of the UK’s toxic incinerator ash for 12 years now; this has to stop. Whatever technology is chosen to deal with Gloucestershire’s residual Waste must be one that does not produce any hazardous residues.

GFOEN and SWARD believe that a new approach is needed that avoids toxic fly ash and would help new small and medium sized businesses to take advantage of new technologies in the handling and use of waste that will benefit local communities in Gloucestershire. It is short sighted of the County to consider committing to a large scale incinerator with a long term contract which will tie up increasingly valuable resources by feeding an incinerator for 25 to 35 years.

What we need is to increase recycling rates and to develop high quality recyclates by having greater separation at the kerbside to obtain the best commercial benefit. Even now glass and paper companies are importing source separated waste because of the difficulties of obtaining enough in England, where so much is contaminated co-mingled mixed collections which usually go to China.

Action and decision making on waste should happen within local communities where the waste arises, and when there is a need, small local residual waste management projects on short term contracts on a few local sites around Gloucestershire for the benefit of local communities.

The County Council Cabinet have said that they wish to look at this dispersed solution in depth, but it has not been included in the County’s Business Case. The County Council is not informing the waste industry what it thinks is best for Gloucestershire, instead the decision has been left to the waste industry to come forward with suggestions.

The invitation to bid was put out to tender on the 4th February 2009 in the Official Journal of the European Union and is to close on the 13th March 2009, after just 27 working days.

Mary Newton, Planning and Waste Officer of GFOEN said:

The County has announced that the next stage will only involve 3 to 10 bidders. How can the County seriously say that 27 working days is sufficient time for anyone fresh to the proposal, to consider all the ramifications involved and be able to come forward with an expression of interest strong enough for them to get into the selection list, when you consider that the contract is worth £646 million. Is all this a charade and where is the value for money for the taxpayer who will be paying for it? Add to this a feeling of inevitability that the result will be a single large scale incinerator. This is why it is so important to say NO now before it is too late.

Gloucestershire Friends of the Earth Network have launched a petition to say NO to a large scale incinerator which is available for downloading on their website.