Nottingham currently has three waste incinerators at Eastcroft near Trent Bridge. The main plant is owned by Waste Recycling Group (WRG). The city has an appallingly low recycling rate of just over 8%, one of the lowest in the country. Most of the Cities waste is incinerated at Eastcroft.

Instead of increasing recycling rates, WRG have applied to the Nottingham City Planning Department to expand the plant by building a £50,000,000 third line and increasing the capacity from 150,000 to 250,000 tonnes of household and industrial waste a year. This will see a massive increase in traffic congestion, pollution and risks to human health.

Over 80% of household waste can be recycled, however WRG plan to import other peoples recyclable waste from the East Midlands, to incinerate in the centre of Nottingham to pollute our air with toxic, poisonous gases.

NAIL Nottingham Against Incineration and Landfill. NAIL originally formed in 2002 by Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, we have since been joined by many residents of Nottingham concerned about emissions from Eastcroft Incinerator, which is the main purpose of our group.

The problems with incineration
Incinerators do not destroy waste. It is one of the fundamental principles of science that matter cannot be destroyed, it can only ever be transformed. Incinerators basically turn rubbish into ash, particulate matter and poisonous fumes. These poisons are spewed into the atmosphere, which we breathe. Eventually they fall to earth where we consume these poisons through our food. Incinerators do not destroy waste, our rubbish still exists we just see less of it and end up breathing it in instead.
Over 35% of the waste remains, some of this becomes contaminated with toxins including dioxins and heavy metals and is landfilled in a toxic waste landfill site. Although some heat is recovered to make electricity and heat homes, the amount recovered is far less than would be saved if the waste were recycled. The heat side of the process is owned by the City Council and is losing £700,000 a year of council tax payer money.

Incinerators Release a Deadly Cocktail of Chemicals
Chemicals are emitted from the chimneystack, in ash and in water discharged to the sewerage system. The heat of the incinerator furnace vaporises the hazardous heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium and tin, found in household waste. This causes chemical reactions producing many new toxic chemicals, such as dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated napthalenes, chlorinated benzenes, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Other pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, are also released in huge quantities.

Incinerator Emissions Poison the Human Body
Cancer, heart disease, respiratory problems, immune system defects, increased allergies and birth defects have all been linked to incinerator pollution. People living near incinerators risk exposure to a range of toxic chemicals by breathing contaminated air, by eating contaminated produce like meat, vegetables, eggs and milk.
The most notorious by-product of burning rubbish are dioxins, which are formed when substances that contain chlorine, live PVC plastic, are burnt. Dioxins are highly toxic and accumulate in the food chain. Dioxins are classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as carcinogenic, and have been described as the most toxic chemicals known to science.

Incinerator Emissions are Poorly Regulated
The monitoring regime for incinerators is unacceptable. It is entirely based on self-reporting and the range of measured pollutants is too narrow, less than half a dozen substances are continually monitored. The most toxic chemicals are only measured twice a year by the incinerator owners and independently checked once a year by the Environment Agency (EA).
Emission levels set by the EA for incinerators, are ‘technically’ or ‘financially’ achievable levels, they are not safe levels. There can never be a safe level for many of the toxic substances spewed into the atmosphere for us to consume.
Eastcroft regularly breaches its authorised emission limits, yet the EA fail to use their powers. There have had four breaches since March this year alone. In one such breach, dioxin emissions into the atmosphere were found to be a staggering 900% of the authorised level. WRG received little more than a 'telling off'’. This breach, of the most cancerous substance known to science, could have gone on for six months, because of poor monitoring and independent scrutiny.

Alternatives
We need a waste reduction and sustainable waste management policy, one that puts the health of the people, before the profits private companies.
Recycling

• Significantly reduces pollution
• Significantly reduces global warming and acid rain gases
• Conserves the earths dwindling recourses
• Can produce five times as many jobs, locally
• Recycling 1 steel can saves 95% of the energy required to produce a replacement
• For every tonne of paper recycled, saves 3 times the energy needed to make new paper, saves 17 trees and 7000 gallons of water. Yet we continue to cut down the worlds remaining rain forests to make paper!
• Recycling Plastic saves five times the amount of energy required to produce it from new and saves oil.

You can read more about the campaign and our group by visiting our website www.nail.uk.net  or contacting us on 0845 4582813 or mail@nail.uk.net