• MILES Seaman (The Edmonton ERF is sound approach to deal with waste that can’t be recycled, February 3) attempts to validate the proposal by the North London Waste Authority to build an over-sized incinerator in Edmonton.

However his reasoning reveals the flaw in the justification. Miles Seaman says that the carbon emissions from the new incinerator, which provides heating and electricity to homes, would be less than the carbon emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels for heat and power that it will displace.

He compares the incinerator with a “typical coal-fired power plant”. He fails to appreciate that coal-fired power plants are rapidly being phased out as part of ongoing efforts to decarbonise our electricity supply; because there is a climate emergency.

So his argument does not stack up. Just as we are not doomed to be stuck with the same dismal recycling rate in this borough, we are not doomed to be stuck with high carbon heat and power systems.

As the national grid continues to decarbonise and people move to electric heat pumps to provide heating, we will be able to transition towards a low-carbon future… which cannot include massive carbon emissions from the Edmonton incinerator.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY CAMDEN