The site of the Ironbridge Power Station, scheduled to close in the next few years, would be ideal for a controversial waste incinerator, councillors claim.
Veolia Environmental Services plans to build an incinerator at Battlefield, in Shrewsbury, but the plans have faced fierce public opposition.
Last night Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council cabinet members were asked to give their views on a possible alternative site at the power station in Buildwas.
The power station is due to close in five or six years and current plans are to demolish it and level the ground. Councillors were told Veolia had not considered the site.
Councillor Tim Barker said: “Despite the recycling efforts that we have made we seem to have not avoided the controversial building of smaller incineration plants scattered around the county.
“But the power station at Buildwas will be closing soon and that would be a perfect site for a larger plant which would take away the need for smaller facilities.”
Managers at the plant were reported to be willing to discuss future uses for the site.
Councillor Charles Armstrong said the station burns coal and has about the same effect on the environment as an incinerator.
“I think we could do a lot worse than to direct Veolia there instead of building an incinerator in the north of Shrewsbury which would be a very unpopular move,” he said.
Councillor Barker said he would suggest the Ironbridge site at an implementation committee meeting so that they could look into the feasibility of the idea.
The site proposal for Battlefield has not yet been given planning permission.
68 Comments
Could hide it in those big towers I guess - better than making the whole area into luxery gated homes.
AND I do live almost in the shadow of the power station.
I suppose S&A councillors don’t care too much about that distant corner of their area though. Out of site (sic) out of mind.
Can they build incinerators next to a river?
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yes that’s right not in my back yard, get it out in the sticks, let it blow all over telford instead, that’s hardly getting to the route of the problem, ie wasteful lifestyles is it
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what a fantastic idea. that way the people nearby already suffer from pollution so they cant exactly complain about additional toxic materials - they might also think that the clouds of poisons released would be the same as the existing clouds of steam so its an easy sell. at least its near a river, so maybe the air pollution can be reduced by dumping some of the toxins in the river?
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Ideal as in “not in our area”? The power station is in Telford & Wrekin, and the prevailing wind will take any emissions right across the most densely populated area of the county.
Usually when people say “not in my backyard” they don’t add “why don’t you put it in my neighbour’s instead?”
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Great, poison Telford for the benefit of Shrewsbury. How typical of them.
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Hmm I await Mr Ryan’s comments on this. As to siting it next to the river if sufficient flood protection is in place then it wont pose a problem, I think this idea has been plucked out of the air - pardon the pun - and posed as an option. It doesnt seem viable to me, extra lorry traffic aswell as the coal lorries and the air dispersal modeling may rule it out.
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Ironbridge power station is closing down rather than invest money in the equipment needed to reduce harmful emissions.
As far as I’m aware, nobody in Telford sent a letter to the Shropshire Star supporting Cllr Roy Lane when he was concerned about emissions from Ironbridge power station affecting Broseley. Why was that?
The Shropshire Star must have printed a score or more of my letters about Ironbridge power station’s emissions affecting the health of those downwind. Are readers who agree with me too scared to contact the Star and say that they’re concerned too?
Think about this. How would you tell whether a power station, or an incinerator, or some other source of industrial PM2.5 air pollution caused an increased rate of illness?
Would you look on internet?
Check the Bible or some other holy work for divine guidance?
Ask the operator of the plant?
Ask the Environment Agency?
Ask the Health Protection Agency?
Ask the Primary Care Trust?
Or would you examine rates of illness, premature deaths at all ages and also rates of hospital admissions for cinditions known to be caused by exposure to industrial PM2.5 emissions and compare rates before the plant started operating with those afterwards?
The last method is scientific. The others are more than a bit iffy.
Now Ironbridge power station has been operating for many years and so the scientific way to examine whether or not harm to health might have occurred in the past is to examine the same health/mortality parameters mentioned above in a group of electoral wards downwind of the power station and compare them with a group of wards that are upwind of the power station.
Have you noticed that the power station has a very high chimney? It’s 670 feet high as far as I recall and that means that the PM2.5 emissions will easily travel for over forty miles and still have a measurable adverse impact on health. Residents in Newport, Gnosall, Eccleshall, Stafford and beyond are all downwind of Ironbridge power stationitw h SW wind. Gnosall is only about fifteen miles away according to my Ordnance Survey map.
Read about Ironbridge at http://www.ukhr.org
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The power station site does fall within Shrewsbury & Atcham district and it has its very own railway line so on the surface it appears to be quite a sustainable location. Planning policy though says that rubbish should be dealt with as near to its source as possible i.e. Shrewsbury’s waste should be dealt with in Shrewsbury and Telford’s in Telford. I would be interested to know what Telford and Wrekin council think about this idea.
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The Power Station is in SABC ,just, not Telford. This Would do away with the need of Granville and Shrewsbury having an incinerator. Have a look at what they do on the Isle of man. They have an incinerator that burns all kinds of stuff, tyres the lot with no problem. I would rather live by an incinerator than a landfill tip. Yes I do live near Buildwas.
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an excellent idea providing new technology will have the answers to resulting pollution, i am thinking of high powered filters that will recycle any pollutants and prevent any waste products affecting the telford/wenlock area
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Message for Picklepie: I thought the power station was going to be decommission in 2010……….If this is correct, couldn’t the existing rail link be used as an alternative raod traffic?
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ironbridge burns puvlverised coal, ie powdered coal, this is very different to municipal waste, it would need to be completely rebuilt to accomodate this suggestion at vast expense to the tax payer. also though there is a grid connection, its bigger than is needed for a little waste incinerator, this idea has not been thought through
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Rob, Telford - the power station lies in the parish of Buildwas in the borough of Shrewsbury and Atcham.
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Hang on, just build a bigger incinerator at the Graville and truck the waste on to their and enjoy the benefits of the economy of scale.
Problem solved and the jobs a good ‘un!
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Typical of Shrewsbury - lets poison all of Telford a attitude of while we’re ok mate the rest can suffer. If the Shrewsbury council have no objection to the incinerator why not have it at Battlefield?.
Well hate to rain on Shrewsbury Parade but the old powerstation is currently earmarked to be used as Buildwas Train station which will extend the SVR from bridgnorth to Ironbridge.
So that is one plan from Shrewsbury which is doomed to fail.
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Wouldnt it be better to leave the site open or use for some kind of flood relief system?
There are plenty of places around Shrewsbury to burn their waste.
Besides, if they want to build a waste disposal depot in Telford, surely the Bucks Head would be the perfect location.
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typical nimbys wanting it moved
just get over it you liberal lefties, burn the stuff and if its not healthy then the closer to telford the better
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Many thanks to those who plan to site one more health hazard in Telford, and not near to them.Time for another protest to get a Health impact assessment methinks, I am sure Telford and Wrekin Council will love the possibility of having to spend yet another £80,000 of taxpayers money for another companys development plans.
The HIA has been caslled for on the Opencast mine plan, the Granville Incinerator, and if the Public Health Director follows her concerns for Telford peoples health, it will be enforced upon this plan too, - unless…it is a Plasma gasification Incinerator, in which case Best available Technology would be used, and there should be no problem.
Pat.
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Picklepie - coal is delivered to the power station by train and the site does not flood.
The power station site has been in use since 1929. Its a brownfield site with good road and rail connections. A far better site for an incinerator than Battlefield in Shrewsbury!
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What are these incinerators going to burn? In Brisbane we have a Recycling Plant. We have two bins of equal size, a yellow lidded one for Paper/Cardboard,-Bottles/Jars,-Plastic Containers. Every week, the normal bin is collected. Every second week, a larger ’split-level’ wagon takes both bins. It is very profitable.
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yes typical of Shrewsbury folk, “Not in my backyard”
An incinerator! No way, apart for the obvious pollution risks. What about the lack of access? Hundreds of trash trucks and skips full of rubbish going down to Ironbridge every day. well Ok it’s not going to affect Shrewsbury folk so thats ok. but lets be honest I think that site could better serve the Ironbridge area.
I thought maybe when the Ironbridge power station closed. Possibly a park with a swimming pool an athletics track and other first class sporting and leisure facilities could be built there. It’s an ideal spot in a very attractive part of the country. Lets enhance the beauty of the area not mar it.
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I live in Shrewsbury and I agree with the other contributors that you don’t solve problems just by moving them away from one group of people to another group of people.
We all know that burning rubbish is wasteful, bad for the environment and bad for our health.
It encourages us to continue wasting valuable resources, which we could be composting or recycling.
The UK’s lamentable recycling record lags way behind the rest of Europe. Why aren’t we massively expanding recycling in Shrewsbury instead?
Incineration only prevents us from addressing difficult issues like tackling superfluous and non-degradable packaging.
Incineration will only remove the incentive to do what we all know is the right thing: REDUCE, RE-USE AND RECYCLE.
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it will save you putting up with fly tipping .
and while there at it put and wind farm there too, well if your going to get the smell you may as well have the wind too…
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Brian: “Possibly a park with a swimming pool an athletics track and other first class sporting and leisure facilities could be built there”
Do think that our leaders would think this way? that they would want to build such a beautiful facility in the world heritage site? I hope they would think of it and not build an awful incinerator right by the tourism assets.
If only there was away to choose who our leaders were and to influence this kind of decision…
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Michael Ryan: thanks for putting the link to http://www.ukhr.org/
Or maybe you shouldn’t have becuase before reading it I wasnt aware of the toxins in the air where I live.
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Who cares if the parish of buildwas is in shrewsbury and atcham area, geographically it is closer to telford and we have our own rubbish to get rid of,
Perhaps telford could build their incinerator just the other side of haughmond hill which falls under telford and wrekin district. soon have the shrewsbury blue rinse brigade up in arms then..
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With a site like Ironbridge Power Station, an incinerator is unnecessary. The ‘green’ alternative would simply be to use the cooling towers as composting bins - problem solved!
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so are the anti-incinerators going to speak out about Telfords biggest polluter - the Donnington Mamoth Bonfire. Tons of recyclable waste all going up in smoke so people can celebrate the execution of a Catholic for his religeous beliefs.
Yet Joan of Arc passes us by for some reason?
How hypocritical can these people get?
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again people you are commenting on a non story.
Once the powerstation closes in 2012 - The SVR has first refusal on the site to extend the SVR.
This is a fact.
No matter what Shrewsbury and Atcham think about transfering rubbish to Telford it is not going to happen.
I know this from a VERY good source.
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its harmful to health to burn rubbish, that’s why they banned burning it in the street and organised rubbish collections in the first place, be it in shrewsbury or telford, it would be better to recycle more, waste less and save alot of pollution
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My mistake about the power station being in Telford & Wrekin!!
But they’re still proposing to put it where it will have little or no effect on their own area, while any potential adverse side effects will be dumped on Telford and the other areas downwind.
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Why hasn’t Veolia bothered to tell the SABC and Shropshire County Councillor and also the UK press about their prestigious ten-year contact for plasma gasification of waste in the US?
Is it because we’d be asking for the same technology here instead of being fobbed off with unsafe and expensive incineration?
Read this news item of 10 November 2008:
New gasification facilities to convert chemical waste into energy
10-NOV-2008
Lakeside Energy has gone into partnership will newly formed company InEnTec LLC to enable construction of large-scale Plasma Enhanced Melter (PEM™) gasification facilities which will convert chemical residuals and hazardous waste into useful chemical products.
Dow Corning Corporation has signed a 10-year contract with InEnTec to convert chlorinated organic residuals into aqueous hydrogen chloride and clean synthesis gas. The first facility will be located at Dow Corning’s Midland, Michigan facility and the output will be reused there. Construction work will begin before the end of the year and the plant will be operated for InEnTec by Veolia Environmental Services Technical Solutions.
‘Chemical process industries are recognizing the value of sustainability strategies and are seeking technologies that can minimize their environmental footprint and recover value from their waste streams that historically have been a cost burden to them,’ says Lakeside Energy’s CEO, William Johnson. He added, ‘The paradigm shift from disposal of chemical wastes to their sustainable reuse as a chemical feedstock with InEnTec PEM™ technology represents a major breakthrough for chemical companies.’
http://www.waste-management-world.com/display_article/344870/123/ARTCL/none/WTENE/1/New-gasification-facilities-to-convert-chemical-waste-into-energy/
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Marco - choosing leaders - get outta the house and vote, if you dont like who you get a choice of put yourself up and if nobody thinks like you then you know where you stand.
Y Mab I think you’ll find that the Horsehay Steam trust are the ones who are likely to be taking up the line to Buildwas - and if the rail companies can avoid fixing the crunmbling viaduct in Coalbrookdale long enough (single line working - slow running - etc) then Horshay Steam Trust will need millions to even get going when Health and safety get their poison fingers in. I’m sure that the section below Coalford down to Freebridge is so unstable that a railway across it would be disaster.
Finally, with problems of fuel supply from abroad there seems to be a pause in closing British power plants down and improving them - logical if you remember your past and dont want to rely on our friends from Russia. I believe we’re already building pipelines to avoid their influence and using ships to bring frozen gas over.
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So what if Telford gets a bit more rubbish……would anyone notice or care?
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i am intrigued to know how the svr can extend north, have not new roads been built across the former line, any way buidwas can be converted to burn waste cleanly. waste can arrive by train and barge from many parts of the country, but only as long as there are no escaping pollutants.
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Michael: Why haven’t you and your fellow PAINs “bothered” to tell Wrekin And District Council how terrible for the environment the Donnington Mamoth Bonfire (Telford’s biggest polluter)is?
Have you “bothered” to tell the press or set up a web site?
No you can’t be “bothered”, can you? So why ask why Veolia can’t be bothered?
Hypocritical NIMBYism, if ever there was!
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there is no ideal site in shropshire for an incinerator, because its a dairy county, and dioxins and other pollutants bioaccumulate in lactating mammals, so if you want safe food and safe air, then there is nowhere locally it can go, not ironbridge, not granville, and not battlefield, just recycle the stuff instead
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Wonderful!
We have the perfect site, with rail access and its own generators, but our T&W and Shrewsbury Councils prefer to go it alone and build two new incinerators on “green field” sites.
Its all called “Progress”.
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And the T&W planners are proposing to burn over a thousand tons a week at the Donnington Site.
Just don’t get caught with a bonfire!
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you greenies done know what youre on about
lets have one in buildwas and one in battlefield then i wont have to bother with this stupid recycling business, which is all a con anyway to make the government money at my expense
when dave c gets in we will have an incinerator in every town, you will learn, we can sort out the rubbish all day, but its easier to pile it on the bonfire
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Tory boy: Your right recycling is a con. They only take what they can make money on and prance around saying how green they are.
Well for people like me who follow the recycling market for scrap, I have bad news. Paper and metal prices have plumetted. Aluminium cans are no-longer worth the diesel it takes to collect them!
Brace yourself for “green” excuses why the councils are going to reduce the recycling service.
Incineration time is here!
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retrofitting is always more expensive and difficult that starting from scratch with a new build power plant.
They could (and infact do sometimes) burn biomass on the existing plant though, by co-firing macademia nut shells along with the coal
I think this is the future for this site, waste wood, olive pips whatever, lower co2 and less pollution too
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hey FriendsoftheErcall (18), how much did the council pay for the health assessment? why wasnt the company paying for it? surely its their responciblity to prove its safe!
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When the 1997 amendment to the Clean Air Act in the US was enacted, there was outcry among major polluting industries such as power stations, steelworks and oil refineries that retrofitting abatement to reduce PM2.5 emissions would severely harm the economy.
Any legislation that could affect the economy in the US is examined by the White House Office for Managament & Budget to determine what the costs and benefits are to the nation as a whole. The nett savings, ie after the cost of retrofitting the abatement equipment, resulting from the reduction of PM2.5s was calculated to be as much as 193 billion dollars over the ten year period 1992-2002 and that nett saving was just due to fewer hospital visits and less days off work.
The above was written up in the Washington Post of 27 September 2003 and ignored by all UK press, even though it should have been a goldmine to FoE, Greenpeace etc who are forever banging on about pollution, but just forget to mention the financial harm or any actual health data showing harm associated with industrial PM2.5 air pollution.
You can read theabove Washington Post article by Eric Pianin via links section at http://www.ukhr.org
Lucy should ask Telford & Wrekin Borough Council why they “lost” all the correspondence relating to Ironbridge power station and are unable to provide me with anything under FoI and Data Protection Act.
If Lucy is concerned about a bonfire that might be as much as ten tonnes of wood once a year , she should be a bit more concerned about an incinerator burning up to 100,000 tonnes of toxic material each year.
The majority of airborne particles from a bonfire will be too large to get into the lungs.
The majority of airborne emissions from an incinerator will be smaller than 3 microns in diameter and the toxic content will be far worse than from a bonfire burning wood.
The incinerator proposed for Granville will have a gate cost of about 68 pounds per tonne of waste and the health damage cost from the emissions will be about the same again.
Plasma gasification will have a nett cost of about 23 pounds per tonne and negligible health damage and no toxic ash to dump in landfill.
Is there anyone in Telford who thinks saving over a hundred pounds per tonne on waste disposal is a bad idea? It’s a “no-brainer” that’s being ignored.
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y: “The SVR has first refusal on the site to extend the SVR.”
I cannot believe that a little steam train is going to stop the development of a site that is worth many many many many many many millions. Maybe they have first right over use of the railway line, but the whole site? besidfes it would make more sense for them to stop at the old coalbrookdale station which is a lot closer to ironbridge…
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Dave in regards to your question about the SVR expanding northwards to the buildwas site (see below)
“The plan to expand North had been mooted by groups within the SVR in the mid 1970s and more recently. The first plan was dismissed as impossible by the then board of the SVR. However recent successes by others in obtaining large sums of money from the Heritage Lottery Fund & the European Regional Development Fund etc. have caused this extreme view to moderate. Telford Steam Railway have recently announced aspirations to operate into the Severn Gorge, leading a group to suggest extending the SVR northwards.
The SVR have been offered first refusal by BRB(R) on the all-important tunnel under Bridgnorth as the first essential part of the plan. If the Telford Steam Railway was to expand and cross the river Severn via the Albert Edward Bridge and operate to the original site of Buildwas Junction station, they would operate over a very short part of the former Severn Valley Line. The possible closure of Ironbridge Power Station will further add to the debate because this covers the site of Buildwas Junction station. However, there are several obstacles to overcome, not least of which is that all of the land north of Bridgnorth tunnel is in private ownership. The Holybush Road was widened and raised after closure, impeding access to the southern portal of Bridgnorth tunnel. The group currently promoting such an extension has identified a viable technical solution to this and other difficulties.
Bridgnorth tunnel was relined in two separate places during operation and was a source of some trouble over the years, but a recent inspection by Network Rail has found it to be in general good order. Both portals are currently blocked off and the southern end has been encroached onto by the garden of the house located adjacent to the former bridge abutment. The northern suburbs of Bridgnorth low town block the trackbed around 100 yards north of the tunnel, with 22 houses and a new road on the alignment itself, yet the proponents have identified solutions that would avoid much of the existing housing. The next section to the north is covered by a low quality golf course that regularly suffers flooding in the winter. There are no sizable populations in the valley above Bridgnorth before Coalport.”
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pollute the skies of ironbridge with soot and dioxin, i know that abraham darby did but in this day an age surely not acceptable on public health grounds? what a “rubbish” idea
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Y Mab: Don’t tell me what questions I shpuld ask, I am very capable of asking my own, such as why aren’t you and the PAINs protesting about celebration bonfire (which smoke certainly gets in my lungs!)?
When you can answer questions and provide the so called scientific study you claim to have (which has already been flawed on this site), then people might take you seriously.
Your nothing but a self-appointed do-gooder with a self-righteous mission to tell everyone else how we should think trying to fool people with jouranlistic opinion and fake studies.
Well some people on here think I am the big bad wolf, but its better than being another sheep in the fold.
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Sorry to be Off-Thread, but Y Mab, I don’t think Coalport is up to railways going through it anymore, its been unstable since at lwast the 40s and will probably weaken and slip around all the stabilisation work done anyway.
I’d love a Bridgnorth - Ironbridge rail link to return and meet up at Buildwas with Horshay steam trust. I think that all the promises and assumptions in the past of rights to have first choice in re-opening the line to Bridgnorth a have been trumped by land weakness
Imagine the Horsehay-Buildwas line being part-funded by charging freight trains companies carrying burnt offerings away from the powerstation? If buildwas could also be terminus for both Bridgnorth and Horshay that would be a result. I heard from a geologist many years ago that the Buildway to Shrewsbury line was sinking at a rate of 7″ a year just before it closed.
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Dave the SVR could easily go through Broseley on the way to Ironbridge - That would also be a boost forbrosely tourism no reason to go through Coalport but I get your point
Lucy W - Why am I a do gooder huni??
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Lucy W - Don’t damn me
When I speak a piece of my mind
‘Cause silence isn’t golden
When I’m holding it inside
‘Cause I’ve been where I have been
An I’ve seen what I have seen
I put the pen to the paper
‘Cause it’s all a part of me
Be it a song or casual conversation
To hold my tongue speaks
Of quiet reservations
Your words once heard
They can place you in a faction
My words may disturb
But at least there’s a reaction
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Can all bloggers understand my letter in today’s Shropshire Star?
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I BET ALL YOU LOT WITH AN OPINION DONT EVEN RECYCLE, IF YOU ALL WASTED LESS WE WOULDNT HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT IN SUCH A WAY
YOU MADE YOUR BED, NOW LIE IN IT, LIKE A PIG, ROLLING ITS OWN MESS, YOU WASTERS
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APPOLOGIES!!!
Comment #48 was meant to be addressed to Michael Ryan, not Y Mab, sorry Y Mab,hope you enjoyed your walk up Caer Caradoc.
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Stuff the Incinerator keep the Power Station open we are desperate for power in the UK! and it brings employment to the area, there are methods to clean up emissions and it will take a hell of a lot of windmill generators to replace a 1000 mega watt station.
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SVR could not extend the line to the Power Station even if it was available and they could afford it. Check out their own web site Y Mab …”Incidentally, to complete the record, the railway land north of Bridgnorth has been long since sold, and there is now no possibility of Severn Valley trains reaching Ironbridge and Shrewsbury ever again.”
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if you dont like it stop moaning and start recycling more
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Sparky: I recycle but scrap metal and paper prices have plummetted and aluminium cans aren’t worth the diesel it takes to the scrap yard. And I have a horse box of paper that no-one wants.
I actually live in a caravan and so saved the planet the recycling burden. Its fitted with a cast iron stove (made of 100% recyclable and 100% recyclable at end of use), burning wood that would otherwise have been on the Donnington Mamoth Bonfire. All this wood is scrap usually from fly-tips.
So we can all do our bit - well I do.
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KarenK - The railway land has not been sold north of bridgnorth it currently runs along the Golf cource and from the Golf corse to Coalport is a private run which the tracks used to run on up until the electricity station at coalport so it is very feasible
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Lucy
I appreciate your point but the price of scrap metal is actually at its highest point for a number of years
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gareth you are WRONG read the news, china’s not buying steel and more, recycling aint worth the paper its written on!
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‘Lucy W’, you made some indefensible and extremely unpleasant remarks about Michael Ryan in #48.
One of the most, in your eyes, egregious aspects of his activism is appraently that he is ’self-appointed’.
It would be great, then, if you could let readers know who appointed you.
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Lucy wrote the following for me, and I hope she’ll understand my responses:
“Your nothing but a self-appointed do-gooder with a self-righteous mission to tell everyone else how we should think trying to fool people with jouranlistic opinion and fake studies.”
Why should anyone be against anyone who is seeking to do good?
When my two children died I had no idea that government data was being collected and published every year that could be used to identify locations with very high rates of infant deaths.
The first set of birth/mortality data I received was for every electoral ward in Shropshire & Telford and by pooling the years of infant mortality data, I could see that some electoral wards in Shropshire have very high rates of infant deaths while others have zero infant deaths for year after year after year.
Other people with access to the same set of data must have noticed the same as me, but if they’ve contacted the Shropshire Star, or any other paper then I’ve missed the article(s) or letters.
I wish someone had done the same research as me three decades ago as then my children would almost certainly still be alive.
If there are any “appointed do-gooders” then they’re falling down on the job with regard to the infant mortality issue.
BBC Radio $ had a 30-minute programme this week about Bradford’s high infant death rate but that programme failed to mention the wide variation in infant deaths in Bradford’s electoral wards, nor the group of very high infant death wards in close proximity to a certain chemical factory. The Bradford group of wards might be a coincidental cluster but it’s worth investigating further.
It seems to me that Lucy couldn’t care less about incinerators that will burn thousands of tonnes of rubbish each year but is very concerned about a yearly bonfire. Perhaps it’s time for her to prioritise?
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there are energy from waste plants all over the continent, if they are safe and compliment high recycling in france, germany, switzerland, austria, holland, sweden and belgium then why not here in the UK too?
All these countries burn waste in abundance and have no major cancer clusters, the health thing is a myth, there is just no real evidence sorry mr ryan.
All these countries if anything have lower cancer rates, they also have way less landfill, and more stable electricity prices
Come on UK PLC, ignore the NIMBYs, get it together and start delivering more energy from waste projects ASAP
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Gareth & GH: Plastic was £200 tonne, now worthless. Copper is at a 3 year low. Oswestry Paper are facing redundancies because of the drop in price/demand.
All because China/India are slowing down production.
I think its a little ironic those countries got stick for their pollution levels when ironically we couldn’t achieve our recyling/pollution without them.
Quite simply we will create more recyclable rubbish that we can re-use. Incineration is the answer whether you like it or not.
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Michael: I was very moved at your motivation for your endeavours and so took some considerable time to view your web site and consider it. I have only commented on Ironbrige Power Station as I spent several hours on it and did not have time to look further into your site.
Re Ironbridge Power Station.
The deaths you use are not infant deaths but deaths under 85 and do not factor unrelated deaths such as road deaths. Unfortunately your website would not down load a clear image in pdf but the data listed was fine – probably my PC.
To be brief, as this is only a web post, the pattern I see is death rates are considerably better in rural areas and there is no consistency towards the Power Station being the cause. For example Shifnal/Idsall and Shifnal Rural are neighbouring wards in the same wind direction with significantly different death rates. This all points to social-economic factors and general urban pollution such as exposure to cement dust (high in PM1-PM2.5). This is a problem as any car owner will know who lives near a concrete plant. You may also wish to plot foundries as well – both Madley and Coalbrookdale have foundries and high SMRs.
I think what is needed is background PM1-PM2.5 pollution figures to (a) show any spread of pollution, and (b) any correlation with premature deaths. Also the deaths must be from known PM1-PM2.5 causes. Lumping all deaths under 85 years old is just too vague for this type of analysis.
Do you have the SMR for Ketley please? I predict that it will have a high SMR.
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Went to the Granville tip myself this morning and saw the Cematorium next to it - now did the NIMBY’s object to that polluter? Also noticed the PAIN banner on the same gate as the Mamoth Bonfire Banner - made me howl with laughter at how silly it looked. These PAINs have lost all credibility.
And doen’t the Nudist Camp on Granville burn wood to heat its swimming pool?
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Michael, my heart goes out to you for your loss, and i can now apreciate your passion. But i think you need to change your approach if you want to better communicate your message. Your right that there are direct links with air quality and health, and your right that incineration as with any burning process, be it in the kitchen, back yard, smoking or BBQ releases the pollutants your concerned about. But, what you fail to prove is that incinerators emit such pollutants in meaningfull amounts. you have been quoting powerstations, and broad animal lab studies, but these use levels of pollutants far greater than you would ever see from an incinerator.
If you could show what people are actually subject to from an incinerator (not just up wind downwind), and that this lines up with current unexplained poor health and death, then you would have the comapnies over a barrel.
The thing is, incinerators have some prety effective filters in place, far better than what you get on power stations or on cars. so its not credable to say they are the cause of all poor health, because in the greater scheme of things, they are less of an issue than what we burn at home, what we are exposed to from cars and funny enough Lucy is probably right that bonfire night is probably more of a danger to health even if it is only once a year. its not just ten tonnes of wood, its 100s of thousands of tonnes of wood with paint, varnish, chemicals, plastics, metel that is burnt all over the country with no filters and no clean up afterwards.
You need to strengthen your case against air pollution directly from incinerators, if not you wont be taken seriously.
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