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New Edmonton incinerator: This environmentally disastrous project must be stopped!

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As the evidence grows that climate change is happening at a faster pace than was thought, it's high time the government pulled the plug on the disastrous Edmonton incinerator project.

artists impression of new edmonton incinerator when completed 

If the bosses of the North London Waste Authority, the leaderships of five north London boroughs and those citizens of the boroughs who pay attention to such matters thought that environmental campaigners, along with campaigners for good governance, had finally abandoned their efforts to put a stop to the building of a new and bigger waste incinerator in Edmonton, they have been proved wrong. An open letter sent to energy secretary Ed Miliband and environment secretary Steve Reed sets out in the clearest terms yet why the mega-incinerator makes no sense in economic terms, while the reasons why operating it would be environmentally disastrous are becoming clearer almost by the day - even the BBC has stopped its futile and dishonest attempts to "balance" the debate on climate change.

We are seeing ever more evidence of the disastrous effects of burning fossil fuels - and incineration is just that, burning fossil fuels - and the urgency with which we must curtail this. The huge amount of money spent to date on building the new incinerator has been largely "wasted", but the costs have increased considerably and the project has slipped behind schedule. The sunk costs will pale into insignificance anyway compared with the economic effects of out-of-control climate change. Nor probably is it too late to reprofile the project and use the site for a large, state-of-the-art waste stream separation facility, which could recover a high proportion of what goes in our bins for recycling. This would be something that NLWA could be truly proud of.

Enough from me. The press release and the text of the open letter (both reproduced below) say it all. Let's hope that Ed Miliband can persuade his government colleagues to put concern for the future of humanity ahead of party solidarity.

35 GROUPS DEMAND GOVERNMENT ‘PULL THE PLUG’ ON ‘DESTRUCTIVE’ INCINERATOR

Full text of press release issued by Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now on 29 November 2024

  • Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Black Lives Matter, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah sign open letter
  • DESNZ, DEFRA asked to withdraw permits, funding for Edmonton plant and its ‘dirty’ heat network
  • Letter follows BBC takedown of incineration as ‘climate disaster’ and ‘dirtiest form of power’
  • Secretaries Miliband and Reed have ‘duty to prevent further harm’ and ‘waste of taxpayer money’

London, 29 November 2024—In an open letter published today Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Black Lives Matter, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE, and more than 30 other civil society groups joined the Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now coalition to demand the government withdraw permits and stop investing in the North London Waste Authority’s beleaguered Edmonton incinerator and pipework connecting it to a local district heat network.

The open letter cites a recent BBC investigation showing that electricity produced by waste incinerators is the UK’s ‘dirtiest form of power’. The analysis quotes scientists who describe waste incineration as a ‘disaster for the climate’ and who advocate a ban on new incinerators in England, like the existing bans in Wales and Scotland. Further souring confidence in incineration are new reports that Aviva made ‘calamitous’ investments in three UK plants that are expected to go bust.

Carina Millstone, founder of the Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now coalition, said: ‘The government may claim it is committed to clean energy, net zero, and the circular economy, but the new, publicly owned incinerator in Edmonton means environmental targets will never be met. We call on the government to show genuine resolve and leadership in tackling the climate, waste, and air pollution crises and to pull the plug on this destructive and toxic waste of taxpayer money.’

Addressed to energy secretary Ed Miliband and environment secretary Steve Reed—and copied to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and dozens of parliamentarians and councillors—the open letter calls on the government to revoke both the development consent order and the environmental permit for the new Edmonton incinerator (both granted in 2017), as well as to withhold all funding for the plant and its district heat network connections.

Mike Childs, head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said: ‘These giant energy-from-waste incinerators are similar to coal-fired power stations or gas plants as they also rely on fossil fuels to create energy—such as plastic made from oil and gas. We should be trying to recycle waste materials rather than burn them, and incinerators are known to reduce local recycling rates. The government should say no to this polluting incinerator in one of the most deprived areas of London, that could have massive health and wellbeing impacts for residents.’

Enfield resident Aurora Yaacov, who has studied the pollution impacts of the planned incinerator, said: ‘If they don’t cancel the new incinerator, it will pump extremely dangerous nanoparticles onto a community that has already been exposed to high toxicity levels from the current plant for five decades. Unlike the larger PM2.5 particles, nanoparticles can pass through the most advanced filters just like a gas. And they can cross the blood–brain barrier and other membranes in your body, causing significant health problems.’

‘There is no excuse for entrenching this social injustice. As cabinet members, Miliband and Reed surely have the power and duty to prevent further harm,’ she added.

Former Enfield councillor Vicki Pite said: ‘Major developers need to adopt truly sustainable heating—and cooling—solutions, such as heat pumps. But instead, they are told to connect to dirty heat from the Edmonton incinerator, which is a long way from completion, meaning that the interim heat source for built and planned homes is gas. The ambition of Energetik, the local energy company owned by Enfield Council, to extend the district heat network across Enfield and beyond frustrates the construction of fully sustainable homes.’

The open letter notes that construction of the Edmonton incinerator, which is running significantly behind schedule, is ‘entirely surplus to the incineration capacity required to process London’s waste’. It specifies that ‘other plants could treat north London’s waste’ and that the government granted development consent based on ‘flawed carbon calculations that significantly underestimate its climate impact’. The letter also raises the issue of ‘stunted’ recycling because of a failure to sort waste, and skyrocketing costs, as the budget for the incinerator complex recently increased by 25%, from £1.2 billion to £1.52 billion.

The open letter sent to energy secretary Ed Miliband and environment secretary Steve Reed

Below is the full text of the open letter, reformatted for easier reading on mobile devices. Click here to download the letter in its original formatting.

Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now

London, 29 November 2024

To: Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero; Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cc: Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister; Mary Creagh, Minister for Nature; The Planning Inspectorate, NLHPP case team; John Armitt, Chair, National Infrastructure Commission; Piers Forster, Interim Chair, Climate Change Committee; Dame Glenys Stacey, Chair, Office for Environmental Protection; Alex Sobel MP, Chair, Net Zero All-Party Parliamentary Group; Baroness Hayman, Chair, Peers for the Planet; Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb; Mayor Sadiq Khan; Zack Polanski, Chair, London Assembly Environment Committee; Hannah Jameson, Director, London Councils Climate Unit; Cllr Clyde Loakes, Chair, North London Waste Authority; Diane Abbott MP; Calvin Bailey MP; Dawn Butler MP; Bambos Charalambous MP; Feryal Clark MP; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Stella Creasy MP; Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP; Barry Gardiner MP; Margaret Hillier MP; David Lammy MP; Kate Osamor MP; David Pinto-Duschinsky MP; Sarah Sackman MP; Tulip Siddiq MP; Emily Thornberry MP; Dan Tomlinson MP; Catherine West MP; Cllr Peray Ahmet; Cllr Ergin Erbil; Cllr Richard Olszewski; Cllr Barry Rawlings; Cllr Diarmaid Ward; Cllr Grace Williams; Cllr Caroline Woodley

Dear Secretaries of State,

Last month the BBC highlighted that ‘burning waste produces the same amount of greenhouse gases for each unit of energy as coal power’, which makes electricity from waste incinerators the UK’s ‘dirtiest form of power’. More people now understand why scientists are warning that waste incineration is a ‘disaster for the climate’ and why they are calling for a ban on new incinerators in England, such as the ones already established in Wales and Scotland.

It is in this context that we request that you immediately withdraw all Government support for the new Edmonton incinerator in Enfield, London, and for its heat supply to a district heat network. Specifically, we call on you to take the following steps without delay:

  1. Revoke the development consent order that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy granted to the North London Waste Authority (NLWA) for the new Edmonton incinerator in February 2017
  2. Direct the Environment Agency to revoke the permit it granted to NLWA for the new Edmonton incinerator in June 2017
  3. Withhold all direct and indirect funding for the new Edmonton incinerator and its district heat network connections.

A failure to take these steps would undermine the Government’s efforts to decarbonise the electricity grid and provide clean power by 2030; its plans for reducing waste arisings in line with the Environmental Targets (Residual Waste) (England) Regulations 2023; and its commitment to creating sector-specific circular economy roadmaps to accelerate progress towards net zero and job creation.

It would also run counter to your commendable postponement of the planning decision on the proposed energy-from-waste (EfW) incinerator at Flixborough. You informed Parliament that this delay would allow the Government ‘sufficient time’ to consider Defra’s forthcoming residual waste infrastructure capacity assessment.

Indeed, DESNZ and Defra simply cannot make informed decisions about any incinerator-related project without considering overcapacity risks and the threats they represent to the Government’s circularity, waste minimisation, clean energy, and net-zero imperatives.

In the case of the new Edmonton incinerator, however, construction is going ahead although the plant: a) is entirely surplus to the incineration capacity required to process London’s waste (other plants could treat north London’s waste), and b) was granted development consent based on flawed carbon calculations that significantly underestimate its climate impact. Related concerns include the following:

Social injustice and health risks: The socially unjust siting of the new incinerator in one of the most deprived wards in the UK ensures that the local population will continue to be exposed to highly toxic ultrafine particulates (PM0.1), which ‘constitute a significant health hazard’, make up by far the majority of emitted particles, and are able to pass through advanced filters ‘into the local environment’.

Stunted recycling. North London’s recycling rate has stagnated at about 30%, a rate far below the 2020 target of 50%. This means that although more than half of the waste that is sent for incineration could be recycled if properly sorted, about 70% goes up in smoke. NLWA has failed to install advanced mixed-waste sorting technology, although it could significantly reduce the amount of plastic (and other recyclables) that go to incineration, as well as associated CO2e emissions and toxic pollution.

No CO2 abatement. NLWA calculations indicate that carbon capture and storage technology would not be installed in the Edmonton incinerator until 2035 at the earliest, iif at all. This position is incompatible with the Climate Change Committee’s net-zero pathway, which requires the waste sector to halve its CO2 emissions by 2035 (compared to 2019) to enable the UK to meet its net-zero target by 2050.

‘Massively oversized’ incinerator. The new Edmonton incinerator is to be 30% larger than the plant it is to replace, despite a decline in waste arisings and Government efforts to boost recycling and reduce waste, including through the deposit return scheme, extended producer responsibility, and separate food waste collections.

Financial risk. The costs for the new incinerator complex have spiraled out of control, most recently increasing by 25%, from £1.2 billion to £1.52 billion, undermining value for money. Costs to the taxpayer will increase further once incinerators are included in the Emissions Trading Scheme. And the plant’s long lifespan heightens the risk that it will become a costly stranded asset.

Progress on the new incinerator has stalled, due largely to labour shortages. The construction lull and the postponement of the plant’s projected completion to 2027 provide the perfect opportunity to formally pause and rethink the plans for the incinerator and its district heating scheme.

We look forward to receiving a swift response to our three requests.

Sincerely,

Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now, Rosamund Addoo-Kissi-Debrah CBE (World Health Organization BreatheLife Ambassador),Better Homes Enfield, Black Lives Matter Enfield, Camden Civic Society, Climate Emergency Camden, EnCaf, Enfield RoadWatch, Extinction Rebellion, Fair-Well, Friends of the Earth London Network, Hackney Fixers, Haringey Trades Union Council, The Hornbeam, Islington Climate Centre, Islington Environmental Alliance, Islington Environmental Forum, Palmers Green Community, Parents for Future East London, Parents for Future UK, She Changes Climate, Sustainable Hackney, Transition Highbury, Transition Walthamstow, Unite Community East London Branch, Unite Community Enfield Area Branch, Unite Community Haringey & Barnet Branch, Waltham Forest Climate Emergency Campaign, Waltham Forest Trades Council, XR Camden, XR Haringey, XR Muswell Hill, XR Waltham Forest, Zero Waste Europe

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