Life by 'monster' incinerators as West Midlands second for most operational rubbish sites

West Midlands has the second highest amount of 'monster' incinerators used to burn household waste in the UK. It comes as burning rubbish in giant incinerators to make electricity is alleged to be the 'dirtiest way the country generates power', BBC analysis claims.

The BBC discovered that burning waste produces the same amount of greenhouse gases for each unit of energy as coal power after examining five years worth of data. Half of waste produced is being burnt, with the West Midlands currently having eight operational incinerator sites, which includes Veolia on James Road, in Tyseley, MES Environmental (CNIM Group) on Lister Road, in Dudley, and two in Wolverhampton.

While there are three planned projects and another three sites under construction, including at the Former Spread Eagle Works, on Portway Road, in Wednesbury, and at Giffords Recycling, on Kelvin Way, in West Bromwich.

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Barbour ABI chief analyst Ed Griffiths told BirminghamLive: “The surge in energy from waste generators – essentially incinerators – has gathered pace over recent years as councils have sought alternatives to landfill. We have certainly witnessed more planning applications in the West Midlands area."

It comes as Mandy Royle, a resident living closest to the UK’s biggest waste incinerator at Runcorn, in Cheshire, said: "We have been inundated with flies, rats, smell, noise. It's just been horrendous."

The Environmental Services Association, which represents waste companies, said they play a “vital” role in producing energy from waste facilities. It comes as 16 million tonnes of waste was incinerated last year in the UK. It claimed disposing of household waste in landfill produced more greenhouse gases than by at energy-for-waste facility.

In a statement, it said: "It is simply incorrect to compare the carbon intensity of energy produced as a by-product of waste treatment with other forms of energy generation without accounting for these avoided emissions associated with landfill.”

A Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said: “We are committed to cutting waste and moving to a circular economy so that we re-use, reduce and recycle more resources and help meet our emissions targets. We are considering the role waste incineration will play as we decarbonise and grow the economy.”

The eight operational incineration sites in the West Midlands:

MES Environmental (CNIM Group) - Dudley EfW - Lister Road, Dudley - Operational

MES Environmental (CNIM Group) - Wolverhampton EfW - Crown Street, Wolverhampton - Operational

MES Environmental (CNIM Group) - Stoke-on-Trent EfW - Campbell Road, Sideway, Stoke - Operational

Veolia - Tyseley ERF - James Road, Tyseley, Birmingham - Operational

Coventry & Solihull WDC - Coventry - Bar Road, Coventry - Operational

Veolia - Battlefield EfW - Vanguard Way, Shrewsbury, Shropshire - Operational

Veolia - Four Ashes EfW - The Dell, Enterprise Drive, Four Ashes, Wolverhampton - Operational

Mercia Waste Management - EnviRecover - Oak Drive, Hartlebury Trading Estate, Worcester - Operational

EfW Incinerators in operation:

Three incineration sites under construction in West Midlands:

Kew Technologies (formerly JCB Broadcrown) - Former Spread Eagle Works, Portway Road, Wednesbury

Private Developer - Hangmans Lane, Hanley Castle

Enfinium Energy Limited - Giffords Recycling, Kelvin Way, West Bromwich

EfW Incinerators planning and under construction:

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