Date/Time
21st June 2019
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Location
Annual General Meeting of the North London Waste Authority
Categories
Extinction Rebellion Waltham Forest invite you to join us in action to stop the building of the new Edmonton incinerator!
On 21st June, please join us to protest outside the Annual General Meeting of the North London Waste Authority.
The Edmonton incinerator burns waste – much of which is recyclable – from all across North London and we need everyone’s help to stop it.
Please wear black to mark the devastating consequences a new incinerator would bring.
Please also bring placards and banners to identify your borough or local XR group so we can show that no one wants to their waste to be burnt and contribute to the climate emergency or London’s terrible air quality.
We will protest as people arrive and during the meeting. Some of us will stand vigil with air pollution masks and others will sing protest songs. There will be rebels on hand to engage with passersby.
BACKGROUND:
The Edmonton incinerator has been burning the wastes of Waltham Forest, Hackney, Islington, Camden, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey since 1969 – huge amounts of it with recycling rates hovering around 1/3 of household waste. Not a coincidence: low recycling is strongly correlated with the presence of an incinerator, a true enabler of the linear, growth-based, consumer society. The good news is it’s about to come to the end of its life, the bad news is…it’s about to be rebuilt with clearance of the site already underway! And this time it’s bigger!
A major justification for the new Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) is that burning waste will be used to create energy which can be used to power North London homes, however:
• Burning waste produces huge amounts of greenhouse gases: for every ton of waste burnt, at least 840 kg of CO2 is emitted. Even if energy is generated from this waste, its emissions factor (or carbon intensity) is greater that the emissions produced through burning natural gas (the proposed plant will therefore produce polluting heat and power)
• Incineration is the greatest barrier to the circular economy as materials are lost forever when burnt. The new incinerator capacity is 700,000 tonnes of waste (at the moment at least 40% of what is burnt is recyclable)
• There is increasing evidence of the health impacts of air pollution, including some ongoing studies on the health impacts of incineration by DEFRA and the Mayor’s Office
http://ukwin.org.uk/files/pdf/UKWIN-2018-Incineration-Climate-Change-Report.pdf
In the last couple of weeks, Sadiq Khan has come out against incinerators saying: ‘London’s air is a toxic air health crisis and the last thing we need, in our modern green global city is another harmful waste-burning incinerator polluting our city. Emissions from incinerators are bad for our health, bad for our environment and bad for our planet.’ (https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/stop-allowing-new-toxic-waste-incinerators)].
The new incinerator must not be built unless the following demands can be proven:
DEMAND #1 CLIMATE EMERGENCY Demonstrate how the plans are consistent with recent declarations at local and national level.
DEMAND #2 NET ZERO STRATEGY Demonstrate how the plans support decarbonisation of energy grid.
DEMAND #3 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT Demonstrate how plans comply with 2017 planning regulations.
DEMAND #4 CIRCULAR ECONOMY & WASTE Demonstrate how plans enable recycling target of 70% by 2030 to be achieved.
DEMAND #5 REVIEW OF ALTERNATIVES Demonstrate how these plans perform against alternative options.
DEMAND #6 TOXIC AIR Demonstrate how these plans support clean air strategies.
Our action on 21 June 2019 will be ‘Phase 1’ of our protest against this incinerator. Further actions will take place if our demands are not met.