I am scared rigid by the pollution and air quality of these plants yet they seem to be getting the thumbs up.

Posted By: chriskempWe are lacking holes in the ground and the infrastructure to segregate our waste streams properly.

This. Councils are under pressure to reduce the amount of stuff they send to landfill, both from the cost and legislation.

Tom.
I spent 3 hours at a multi million pound recycling transfer station recently. They process 90,000 tpa of recycling waste (not black sacks collections).
One of the most expensive and modern facilities in the UK.
Best part of 10% is deemed non recyclable and goes to landfill at this recycling facility. This figure would be far far higher if it was a municipal waste transfer station and far higher if they did not turn away certain feedstocks and materials.

Thats just one facility, for one council.

The reality is millions of tonnes goes to landfill because it is not segregated.
We are running out of holes hence the need for short term alternatives such as incineration, pyrolisis, gasification and the tech i am working to bring to commercialisation for plastics and tyres into a synthetic diesel.

Do they still call them "Waste Inceneration Plants"? I thought they were all being given new names such as "Waste Energy Recover Power Station", "Multi fuel Power station" etc

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/oct/02/energy-waste-plant-green-light
http://www.utility-exchange.co.uk/tag/coal-fired-power-station/ (Coal and waste)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-19714430

Agreed.
It really really annoys me that big supermarket chains use materials for their packaging which are "not currently recyclable".

If true Brian which I have no doubt that it is that would leave both government, local authorities and operators open to future legal actions

Posted By: fostertomsquandered as fix for our present energy addiction.

I tend to agree, but out short term view on resources has been pretty effective so far. Given us men on the moon, extended lifespans, cheap travel, medicine, cheap food, fresh water. Are we of the view that without cheap energy we cannot survive at all or will just slip back to pre industrial times. Not as if we loose all the knowledge we now have, just have to adapt to what we have and we are pretty good at that.

Posted By: SteamyTeaout short term view on resources has been pretty effective so far

and has been standard human behaviour.

Always eventually corrected by collapse and/or catastrophic migration of the society. It won't be different this time - collapse or migration. Except this time, where to migrate to?

See Jared Diamond's 'Collapse'
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Survive-Succeed/dp/0241958687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1351161211&sr=1-1
which analyses numerous such collapse histories - but also societies which did see the light in time and saved themselves.

As we've nowhere left to go, western society had better be one of the latter.

This is the basis of our decision to attempt our own "green living plan":
Use an existing building
Insulate and passively heat
Minimise waste to "the outside" (essay in itself)
etc etc etc
expressly to stay put and not "migrate" when the proverbial hits the fan!

Posted By: muddygetting rid of all his plastic waste

Notify the council

Yes pvc is pretty nasty.
The process i am involved with cant handle pvc due to the almost explosive nature, and deffo toxic gases released..

Lived in Albama once upon a time, a few miles from a CW Agent Incineration plant. If the temperatures are high enough the waste to atmosphere of anything can be reduced to safe constituents so the question on inceneration is who will monitor the plants' operation when the operators are PLCs worrying about their bottom lines?

Posted By: pmusgroveIf the temperatures are high enough the waste to atmosphere of anything can be reduced to safe constituents

Really? Vapourised, certainly, then to form other compounds, poss even nastier? No controlling the possible combinations in that.

Get things to a high enough temperature and you ionize them, now that is fun and you get a mini Northern Lights going up the chimney.
Air needs to be about 174,408 K

Sweden is an interesting example for comparison against incineration processes in the UK, they have far more stringent emissions control but appear to still create environmental and health problems.
http://www.cawdrec.com/incineration/CVH.pdf Includes data on the hazards of exposure to fine particle pollution.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmenvaud/writev/air/m02.htm
Includes-
“4.In Sweden in one town 2007 PM2.5 emissions were caused by ---33% the new incinerator (better quality than UK ones no doubt) 33% the oil refinery, c14% traffic 15% domestic heating 5% agricultural dust etc. In Mexico city the municipal incinerator was proved to be causing the smog and high death rates. That incinerator like UK ones was emitting PM2.5s & PM1s. Autopsies in Mexico City revealed PM1 particles (from the incinerator) in brain & red cells which were not found in autopsies clear of the incinerator. The UK Environment Agency has written that 90% of PM1s escape through UKbag filters and 35% of PM2.5s also escape through UK incinerator bag filters. The UK incinerators are authorised to emit 40 to 120 times the particulates than those in Finland or Sweden. This reveals the state of corruption in the Uk where the lobbyists like Enviros and Friends of the Earth are misleading DEFRA and government quangos. The regulators are refusing to check anything out. We have new incinerators virtually banned in USA, France, Belgium etc with the only safe system of plasma gasification being built instead. We have Veolia building plasma gasification in USA 2010 while building junk-quality-specified incinerators in the UK”.
The UK appears to be heading down a similar route that will result in a need to import waste in order to feed the incinerators, UK domestic waste production falling year on year (DEFRA detail 88kg per person reduction over last 4 yrs), industry on a zero waste strategy and supermarkets announcing a zero waste policy with any waste food to AD for energy production . Meanwhile a number of Local Authorities are committing £billions of ratepayer cash to 25yr totally inflexible incinerator contracts. Any claim of energy gain requires serious scrutiny of pollution burden per unit of useful power out.