SITES across Scotland which burn rubbish caused more climate pollution than ever before last year with some spewing out toxic chemicals such as mercury and arsenic, The Ferret has found.
Six facilities which burn household waste produced nearly 900,000 tonnes of climate-polluting carbon dioxide in 2023. This is a record high and a 50% increase in emissions over the last five years.
The findings come as more incinerators are set to come online across Scotland over the next few years, despite a ban introduced by the Scottish Government in 2022.
Supporters of incineration say it reduces overall emissions because waste burned at the sites is used to produce electricity or heat. They argue it would otherwise go to landfill where much of it would still decompose and produce greenhouse gases, but no energy.
But analysis has found that producing energy from waste burning is now the most polluting way that the UK generates power.
Critics fear rubbish that could be recycled – particularly plastic which is itself made from fossil fuels – is instead going up in smoke.
They told The Ferret that levels of pollution from incinerators were “disturbing” and the sites were coming “at a cost to our recycling rates, our climate targets, and our air quality”.
One activist pointed out that some incinerators are near schools and hospitals, potentially exposing vulnerable people to toxic chemicals.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said incineration was only one way that waste is managed, and overall emissions from the management of household rubbish are declining.
Climate and health impact DATA on pollution from waste incinerators, which was gathered by Sepa, was published in October.
Most of the climate pollution comes from four sites; at Dunbar in East Lothian, Polmadie in Glasgow, Baldovie in Dundee and Millerhill near Edinburgh.
The biggest polluter was Dunbar, which produced well over 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) last year, around 50,000 tonnes more than in 2019.
Baldovie saw the biggest emissions increase, with CO2 levels more than doubling at the site after German company MVV brought a second incinerator online there in 2022.
The Dunbar and Polmadie incinerators are both owned by the waste company, Viridor, which itself is owned by New York financial giant, KKR.
As well as CO2, the Dunbar plant also reported releases of mercury and dioxins and furans – a family of chemicals which are byproducts of industrial processes – to the environment in 2023.
Exposure to dioxins and furans has been linked to cancer, changes in hormone levels and skin conditions. Inhalation of mercury can cause neurological and increased levels of autism have been observed near sites that emit mercury.
Polmadie emitted twice as much mercury as Dunbar, despite processing less waste, and also released arsenic, another chemical linked to serious health issues if people are exposed to it for prolonged periods.
Levels of dioxins and furans produced at Baldovie were 26 times higher than the threshold at which a company needs to report emissions of the chemical to Sepa, and the site also produced mercury.
Baldovie’s emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) – produced when organic materials are burned – also rose in 2023.
When humans come into contact with PAHs it can increase the risk of cancer and exacerbate breathing problems like asthma.
The Millerhill incinerator has seen its CO2 emissions remain relatively stable since 2020, although they increased slightly between 2022 and 2023.
But it also produced mercury last year. It also released over a tonne of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which can cause respiratory issues particularly in children and the elderly.
Two new incinerators came online in 2023, in Grangemouth and Aberdeen, meaning that emissions from the sites are expected to increase again when figures are released for 2024.
Waste ‘hierarchy’ A 2022 independent review for the Scottish Government emphasised the need to reduce and recycle waste to stop it going to landfill or incinerators.
Titled “Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury”, the review concluded that incinerators are currently “less climate damaging” than landfills but recommended avoiding burning plastics to reduce carbon emissions.
While food waste emits fewer greenhouse gases when burned than in landfills, burning waste plastic is worse for the climate than burying it.
THE incineration review warned Scotland was at risk of having too many incinerators. This could lead to a situation where waste is unnecessarily directed to new incinerators in order to justify the fact they were built.
Following the review, the Scottish Government introduced a moratorium on new sites although a number of projects which had already received planning permission could still go ahead.
This “loophole” allowed the Aberdeen and Grangemouth incinerators to start operating since the ban, with more sites under construction. Waste burned in Scotland rose by 15% last year, while recycling increased only by 0.2%.
Friends of the Earth Scotland has claimed that these figures show the Scottish Government has “lost control” of incineration. Kim Pratt, who campaigns with the environmental group, argued the Scottish Government is “failing to protect the people of Scotland from the impacts of burning our waste”.
Pratt claimed: “Not only is incineration limiting recycling efforts and contributing to climate breakdown, but the pollution from burning our waste is toxic too and becoming increasingly harmful to those who live near incinerators.
“Incinerators have been allowed to be built near schools and hospitals which is really concerning.”
She called for the Scottish Government to use its powers to close the “loophole” in its incineration ban and prevent more of the sites coming online.
Shlomo Dowen, national coordinator of the UK Without Incineration Network, echoed Pratt’s call for the “dangerous loopholes” in the ban to be closed.
“These disturbing findings should act as a wake up call,” Dowen claimed. “Incineration comes at a cost to our recycling rates, our climate targets, and our air quality.”
Sepa argued that the climate impacts of incineration “should not be viewed in isolation” and pointed to statistics which show the “overall carbon impact of household waste management” reduced in 2023 to its “lowest recorded level”.
A spokesperson for the regulator said it was clear that to reduce the need for incineration, “we all must strive to reduce the waste we produce as much as possible”.
They added that Sepa ensures incineration facilities are “designed and operated to high technical standards and meet strict emissions limits to protect the environment and human health”.
Gillian Martin MSP, acting cabinet secretary for net zero and energy, told The Ferret the Scottish Government was developing a cap on incineration capacity.
She added: “Our reuse and recycling rates continue to increase, but we still need to manage our unavoidable and unrecyclable waste.”
“This approach of limiting and reducing the amount of waste we burn ensures that our current and future plans for waste management matches our carbon reduction ambitions.”
A spokesperson for MVV, the German company which owns the Baldovie incinerator near Dundee, said waste treated at energy from waste sites was “moving up the waste hierarchy, away from landfill or export”.
“Therefore, carbon dioxide equivalent emissions are reduced in comparison to other residual waste management options such as landfill.”
They added that emissions from the Baldovie site had grown because it has increased the amount of waste it treats since the second incinerator came online. “Recycling levels could be further increased through changes in packaging design, simpler recycling systems, and better education of households,” the spokesperson added.
The owners of all the incinerators named were contacted for comment.
