Andrew Murrison has written to Energy Minister Grant Shapps to ask why the companies building and profiting from incinerators are not subject to the emissions trading scheme (ETS). The ETS implements the ‘polluter pays’ principle by demanding that companies buy permits for each tonne of carbon dioxide they emit. Estimates of carbon emissions from incinerators range from 6 to 7 million tonnes per annum.
Andrew’s intervention comes after openDemocracy reported that if the ETS applied to incinerators last year, they would have paid £554 million for their pollution. However, under current plans the incinerators will not be part of the ETS until 2027 or 2028.
Andrew said;
"By any reckoning we will be substantially over-capacity on incinerators meaning they can only survive economically if we continue to feed them plastics. It just isn't good enough to have a waste management model that consigns an ever increasing tonnage of plastic waste to the great landfill in the sky. It's unacceptable that the companies profiting from these monstrosities are not paying for the harm they are causing. The polluter must pay, not in 2028, but now."
Andrew is also lobbying hard with ministers and advisers to get a moratorium on more burners and an incineration tax to promote responsible waste management.