Campaigners are claiming a victory against controversial plans for an incinerator near Hedon, after the development hit funding problems.
It comes after East Riding and Hull City councils announced a bid for private finance initiative (PFI) cash to help pay for the waste-burning facility was no longer being considered.
Now normally I might be tempted to direct my ire at the Not In My Back Yard attitude of people, but honestly I can see why you might object to a waste incinerator (or a new landfill, or anything else collecting together that much waste) being built on your doorstep, especially since I'm guessing there wouldn't be any financial incentive for those who would be most affected. Don't get me wrong, if the scheme is necessary and reasonable measures have been taken to minimise or mitigate negative effects (offering an annual cash payment for those living nearby would seem a nice gesture for instance), then I don't think people should be able to veto a scheme, but in this case I don't think it is necessary.
Let's look, for just a second, at why an incinerator is even being considered given the pollution it will clearly kick out. Are Hull and East Riding councils considering an incinerator because it's be cleanest way to get rid of rubbish? No. Are they considering it because it's the most cost effective way to get rid of rubbish? No. They're considering it because an artificial price has been placed on the use of Landfill by a European Union directive on reducing waste. A price has to be paid for every ton of rubbish dumped into landfill, and that price is massively increasing which suddenly makes uneconomical and polluting solutions viable. That's the law of unintended consequences, where a generally well meaning person decides the best way to achieve their purpose (reducing the amount of waste we put in landfills) is by imposing a bigger central government control (in this case tax) on it.
So what is the alternative? Well the best way that I can see is to encourage recycling, and the first part of that, having a decent system of recycling bins, is at least starting to get moving. The other part of that, and I know I'm going to make myself a little unpopular by saying this, is encouraging people to make the effort to recycle. And what is the simplest way to do that? Collect general waste less often and recycling more often. If you know that your general waste is going to be picked up fortnightly but your recycling (including the compostable kitchen waste) will be picked up weekly, you might well be motivated to put food waste into the recycling rather than it sitting in the general waste. If you know you need to fit two week's worth of rubbish into one black wheelie bin, you might well put the paper, cans, cardboard, glass and plastics in the appropriate recycling bins than try to force it all into the general waste.
Or is that just too simple?
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