PLYMOUTH’S controversial incinerator has been labelled a ‘disaster for the environment’ as new figures show the amount of waste being brought in from across the county to be burned in the city.
New figures show the Energy from Waste facility, at the edge of Barne Barton, incinerates rubbish trucked in from all over the county, with Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council all using its furnaces.
A reliance on the incinerator – and others at several other facilities in Devon – mean councils across the county are recycling less of the rubbish they collect, and burning far more. Research carried out by the BBC Shared Data Unit says councils around the country are bound into decades worth of contracts with companies to burn black bag waste – even though some experts now say incineration is a “disaster” for the environment.
Plymouth and Torbay are among four councils that went from incinerating nothing at all 10 years ago to burning the majority of their waste.
Recycling in Plymouth has decreased around four percentage points to 34%. Back in 2015, Plymouth City Council recycled 38% of its waste, landfilled 62%, and incinerated nothing. By 2023 it was burning 66% of its waste.
This story is from the October 16, 2024 edition of The Herald.
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This story is from the October 16, 2024 edition of The Herald.
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