North London Waste Authority claims the government’s new rules on incineration will not impact construction of its facility in Edmonton, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

How the new Edmonton incinerator will look when built

A new incinerator in Edmonton already meets government proposals for tighter restrictions despite efficiency concerns, North London Waste Authority (NLWA) claims.

In late December, the government proposed a raft of stricter standards for approving and building new incinerators in the UK. Under the new rules, they would only be approved if they could ensure less rubbish would end up in a landfill or if were replacing a less efficient plant.

Ministers hope more efficient recycling will eventually lead to decreased demand for incinerators, as there will be less rubbish to burn.

The new incinerator at Edmonton Eco Park, which has faced staunch opposition by local campaigners, was given a development consent order in 2017 by the previous Conservative government and began construction in 2022.

According to NLWA chair Clyde Loakes, it will meet the government’s new tighter standards and “act as an exemplar for future facilities”.

The energy-from-waste incineration plant will use the process of selective catalytic reduction – converting nitrogen oxide into water and diatomic nitrogen – and a combined dry/wet scrubber to capture particles.

It will serve seven London boroughs – Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest – and replace the existing half-century old incinerator.

Though much is made by NLWA of the new incinerator’s “world class” capabilities, the Stop Edmonton Incinerator Now (StEIN) campaign group maintains that it should not go ahead for environmental reasons.

They argued it would undermine recycling efforts by creating a demand for waste, and the particles it would release into the air would constitute a public health risk.

The group recently wrote to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband in December, formally asking him to pull the plug on the £1.5bn North London Heat and Power project.

Campaigners have also repeatedly raised concerns over the effectiveness of capturing fine particles, as well as North London’s “dismal” recycling rate of around 30%, which falls far beneath the 2020 target of 50%. They claim this shows NLWA does not prioritise recycling and is unaware of the links between incineration and low recycling levels.

In a written response to Miliband, Cllr Loakes said scrapping the project three years into construction would be the “worst possible outcome” for more than two-million people. He said not completing the project would be “detrimental” to North Londoners and would deny them “a safe, clean and low-carbon solution for managing their waste”.

Government analysis revealed that London’s capacity for waste will be around 1.4 million tonnes below the amount being produced.

Cllr Loakes, who is also deputy leader of Waltham Forest Council, said “much more must be done” to curb rubbish. He argued “unnecessary and unrecyclable” plastics needed to be “designed out” or replaced with recyclable alternatives.

Once completed, the will be capable of burning 700,000 tonnes of rubbish each year. It was initially slated to be up and running this year, but delays have seen the date pushed back to 2027.

A spokesperson for the NLWA said in December that construction was progressing well and steelworks had commenced.

The incinerator will be overseen by the London Energy Ltd, which is wholly owned by the NLWA. The authority, launched in 1986, manages waste collection and transport across the seven London boroughs. It is controlled by a team of 14 Labour councillors, two from each borough.

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