IOM3 CEO invited to comment on the rising emissions from burning waste in the UK
IOM3 CEO, Dr Colin Church FIMMM, was invited by the BBC to contribute to an article and on the news on waste-burning.
IOM3 CEO, Dr Colin Church FIMMM, contributed to a BBC analysis on waste incineration. The investigation examined five years' worth of data from across the country and found that burning waste is the UK's dirtiest form of power, with greenhouse gas emissions comparable to those of coal burning.
In a previous report by Colin in 2022 which reviewed the role of incineration in Scotland,it was recommended that Scotland limit the granting of further planning permissions for incineration infrastructure and develop an indicative cap on the residual waste treatment needed. Since then, local councils in the UK have increased the amount of waste they incinerate, with around 3.1% of the UK’s energy now coming from waste incineration.
The BBC contacted Colin for a comment on this topic, during which he discussed the role of binding contracts for councils. He was also invited to appear on BBC News on Tuesday 15 October 2024 to talk about the issue in more detail during an evening news segment.
If you're interested in reading more about the topic, take a look at the following list of resources:
- Burning household rubbish now UK’s dirtiest form of power, BBC finds - BBC News
- IOM3 | Stop, sort, burn, bury - Should Scotland incinerate waste?
- IOM3 | Scotland delays deposit returns, adds incineration chair
- Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury - incineration in the waste hierarchy: independent review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
For any policy-related enquiries or if you have thoughts on this issue, please contact our policy team at [email protected].
Read the full report from 2022
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