The Edmonton incinerator

• CAMDEN Council has signed up to a vast new incinerator complex.

This is a terribly wrong decision and, as Camden’s Green councillors, we will continue to push for this project to be replaced by a real green strategy to reduce our waste, not burn more and more of it.

We have been shocked by the self-congratulatory, and almost condescending, response from Labour to our objections. At the full council meeting, Cllr Richard Olszewski announced his delight that the contract had been signed, declaring that the incinerator is a “very commendable project”, (Labour finance chief offers enthusiastic backing for new Edmonton waste incinerator, January 27).

This was followed up by a letter in the January 27 CNJ by Labour Party activist Martin Plaut, levelling accusations at our party’s use of data which we find both offensive and inaccurate.

Mr Plaut urgently needs to read Dorothea Hackman’s pre-action judicial review in objection to the incinerator, which clearly sets out how the calculations used by the North London Waste Authority to estimate CO2 emissions did not properly follow government guidance.

The carbon impact screening report carried out by the NLWA’s own consultants shows that if the incinerator were to treat around 700,000 tonnes of waste per year, as is intended, it would emit 683,000 tonnes of CO2 per year – nearly one tonne of CO2 for every tonne processed.

As I (Siân Berry) told the meeting, we have to face the fact that the amount of waste Camden burns is rising. Official council figures released in response to our questions show that in 2018-19 Camden sent nearly 35,000 tonnes of waste for incineration, and this went up to more than 41,000 tonnes of waste in 2019-20.

The borough needs a whole new strategy to genuinely reduce waste, and we note that the numerous proposals by me (Lorna Jane Russell) in my cabinet adviser report to improve plastic recycling in Camden have not yet been put into action.

The right decision from Camden Labour would have been to listen to Greens and residents across the borough to pause and review the Edmonton incinerator, not to sign up gleefully to decades of burning tens of thousands of tonnes of waste with impacts on everyone’s health and the environment.

CLLR SIÂN BERRY
Leader

CLLR LORNA JANE RUSSELL Deputy Leader
Camden Green Group