Rightly, many people are concerned that WtE plants, particularly large ones, take away the incentive to recycle waste, and to reduce it in the first place.  There is also the policy of Zero Waste to consider.  Zero waste is when we (as a society) cease to dispose of anything, because we have become sophisticated enough to reuse and recycle everything we discard.

How do WtE plants relate to all this?  WtE plants must have a supply of waste to make them financially worthwhile over their 25 year lifetime.  If waste declines over this period for reasons of population movement or from minimisation and recycling policies, there may not be enough waste left for the plant.  This may provide an extra political pressure to divert waste to the plant that may have otherwise been recycled.

All these uncertainties can be managed, by taking a more flexible approach to WtE by using a greater number of plants and by developing them in a step-by-step manner, say every 3 to 5 years or so.  The diagrams below show that for a one large plant, you only get one chance to size correctly for the 25 year period.  If you use, a medium size plant strategy, you get 3 chances and with small-scale you get 4 or 5.

NEXT