An Incinerator next to a Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) plant? Surely not!

Link to 'letsrecycle.com' (2006)

2006: "Thames Gateway planners voted unanimously last night to approve planning permission for a new-technology waste treatment plant in Rainham. Storm clouds gathered over Stratford Old Town Hall, as last night's committee hearing threw out objections from residents.

"Proposed by Australian-owned Novera Energy, the £25 million plant will use a gasification [we say: let us call it incineration] process, to generate electricity from the residual waste material from the Shanks East London MBT plant next door, at Frog Island.

"The so-called 'East London Sustainable Energy Facility' (ELSEF) forms part of Defra's £30million 'New Technologies Demonstrator Programme', which is trialling new ways of treating household waste."

"Objectors raised questions, over the fact that the 'MBT-then-Gasification' system, designed for a 50% recycling rate, would limit potential recycling rates in London.

"But speaking after the vote, the chairman of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, Prof Mike Thorne, told letsrecycle.com:

"The committee made the decision – and in my personal view, I had to support the application – because all the ducks were in a row."

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Link to 'letsrecycle.com' web site

2009:

Deadline passes for New Technologies Demonstrator Programme

"The assessment deadline for projects in Defra's New Technologies Demonstrator Programme passed on Tuesday (31 March 2009) with just four of the nine commissioned sites meeting their contractual obligation to be operational for 8,000 hours.

"The New Technologies Demonstrator Programme (NTDP) was set-up in 2003, and aimed to develop sites using less-proven technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, pyrolysis with gasification, and in-vessel composting.

"Although four facilities became operational within the deadline, the Programme was hit by delays (see letsrecycle.com story) and the withdrawal of three commissioned plants from the project.

"A spokesman for Novera, which withdrew when it was unable to reach financial close for its proposed gasification facility, said that it was currently discussing investments in the proposed East London facility.

"In addition to the withdrawals, the Programme was also affected by one instance of a fire breaking out at a commissioned site. In October 2008, a blaze broke out at the £13 million Huyton mechanical thermal treatment facility being operated by Orchid Environmental (see letsrecycle.com story).

"However, the plant recommenced operations at the end of January, after the company repaired damage to one waste processor, a small area of the roof and a conveyor belt."