Almost half of the UK’s trash, including plastic packaging, is incinerated in waste-to-energy plants around the country, a new investigation has found. The research shows that there are now 52 incinerator sites, providing 3.1% to the national energy supply, which produce almost the same level of GHG emissions as the burning of coal (which has now been ended entirely). Dozens of new plants are currently being planned, and existing ones are growing in capacity, found the BBC investigation. Almost half of all UK incinerators were approved for capacity increases by the Environment Agency without applying for a new permit, despite it requiring public consultation.
