A leaked environment department paper which was due for publication in February has suggested that the Government is proposing to increase the number of incinerators across the country, resulting in the proportion of burned waste rising from 9% to 25% over the next 25 years. The paper urges making "energy from waste" and using incinerators to burn waste which can't be recycled in order to power electricity generation plants.
These proposals have been slammed by Friends of the Earth, who claim that incinerators are an inefficient generator of energy and actually produce more carbon monoxide than an old-fashioned coal-fired power station. Spokesman Michael Warhurst argues we should be recycling more and burning less, and the Government should perhaps tackle the UK's waste crisis by reducing the amount we generate and promoting a huge expansion in recycling.
The UK is currently near the bottom of the European recycling league table, with just 17% of our waste recycled in 2003 and 2004, compared to 53% in Germany, 59% in the Netherlands and up to 70% in some areas of France and Belgium.
