By Local Democracy Reporter Peter Davison
Westbury MP Andrew Murrison has put forward a bill in the House of Commons that seeks to reduce the use of waste incinerators and stop the building of new ones.
The MP has long opposed the building of a waste incinerator in Westbury.
He told Parliament, “Since the landfill tax was introduced in 1996, consecutive administrations — Labour, coalition and Conservative —have encouraged incineration and discouraged landfill.
“They have been helped by the burner industry, which has greenwashed its operations as ‘energy from waste’.
“The generation of a few tepid calories and a feeble stream of electrons has convinced Whitehall that waste burners are part of a transition to a green future and to net zero. They are not.
“We are allergic to putting waste in the ground, but happy to consign it to the landfill in the sky—out of sight, out of mind and straight into the lungs of those living downwind and on to the nation’s carbon ledger.”
He said that incinerators were cited “disproportionately in poorer, densely populated places with a heavy burden of ill health.”
His Waste Incinerators Bill also calls for an end to “deliver or pay” clauses in the contracts between local authorities and operators, which demand councils “feed the monstrous burner” or face financial penalties.
“The more households reduce their waste and local authorities recycle, the less waste councils will have to send for incineration,” he said.
“It is little wonder that recycling has stalled for the last 15 years, and that where incineration rates are higher, recycling rates are lower.”
He added, “It gets worse. Transitional arrangements laid last year will allow 31 waste collection authorities, including Wiltshire, to defer the separate food waste collections required from March next year under the otherwise excellent Environment Act 2021, in some cases to the 2040s.
“This means sending compostable waste to the burner.”
The MP went on to thank campaigners including the Westbury Gasification Action Group (WGAG).
He made his speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday 25th November under the 10-minute rule, which allows MPs to ask to bring in new bills.
His bill was backed by MPs from across the political spectrum including Brian Mathew (Devizes & Melksham, Liberal Democrat) and Danny Kruger (East Wiltshire, Reform UK).
The planned waste-to-energy incinerator in Westbury won planning permission from the Planning Inspectorate in 2023, after Wiltshire Council turned it down.
Work at the site began last month. Operator Northacre Renewable Energy said incinerators produce fewer emissions than other forms of waste treatment.
The bill will receive its second reading on Friday 16th January.
Wiltshire Council has been approached for comment on the suggestion that it might send compostable waste to incineration.
Pictured: Dr Andrew Murrison in the House of Commons
