Burning waste now dirtiest form of power it seems

[John_S]

So one set of environmentalists tell us to stop using land fill and suggest controlled incineration as an alternative. And then another set of environmentalists complain about the CO2 emissions from incineration. It is a heads you win, tails I lose situation. or a matter of not being able to please everyone all of the time.

I am not sure which is worse, having CO2 in the atmosphere from incinerators or having (yet) non-recyclable plastic waste in the ground for hundreds of years where it might leach into water courses etc. Having it in the atmosphere keeps open the option of CCS to get it out of the atmosphere.

[Fueltheburn]

I haven't read the article and I can't be arsed to be honest as it will likely not be balanced.

Indaver who run the new incinerator plant at Tullos in Aberdeen create an interesting out output from the rubbish burned.

- The heat generated goes directly into a mass storage that heats the surrounding houses and flats (council).
- It generates electricity for the grid.
- The ash that is left goes into Double glazing units. There is now a minimum amount of ash to go into double glazing units. The ash (apparently) also helps with insulation properties.

These positives help overbalance the argument as I see it.

[Oliver90owner]

Not all of the waste burned is plastic. Unless someone separates the ‘neutral’ CO2 from that from oil derived products, the report is likely just hype? Better to usefully burn the bits that would otherwise produce methane in the land-fill sites?