Caithness to get incinerator

[dozy]

Well the secret is now out, as council employees confirm that there's a new incinerator in the pipeline and should be up and running by late 2020. Al the planning , financial package along with a site are all in place ,just don't tell the public .

[Goodfellers]

Surely Patrick Harvie MSP would have a right fit and stop the SNP from carrying out such an anti green policy?

[pig whisperer]

If the chimneys had filters on to protect the atmosphere could this work Im sure I read somewhere, its done in Germany

[Shaggy]

I wonder who's palm got greased with a fat wad of notes to allow this to pass? You only have to read the news to know that peoples health is at risk due to all the toxic emissions that cannot be burned off because the system doesn't produce enough heat to do so.

[dozy]

IT all goes back to Westminsters inability to come up with a proper recycling and waste strategy in 2010 . The Tories want the private sector to built and run the system with huge amounts of public money but they ran into the EU regulations that would prohibit that PFI cash cow. With Brexit the doors are open and the handcuffs are off. So beware as they may just land one of the waste burners near you .
In the passed the government and local council worked for you and the community's benefit now it's the other way round .

[Goodfellers]

Dozy, how do you manage to turn every post into anti Westminster propoganda?

I'm fairly sure this policy is devolved to the SNP led Scottish government.

https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/waste-and-pollution/Waste-1/wastestrategy

[pig whisperer]

Im sure the snp would be responsible for this, look how they banned fracking

[pig whisperer]

Should read wouldn't, not would

[Goodfellers]

This is a pretty reliable source...... it seems the Scottish govt is happy to approve these incinerators up to 300,000 tonnes/year

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13036609.The_burning_issue_Revealed__the_plans_to_ build_a_new_wave_of_the_waste_incinerators_that_ha ve_communities_up_in_arms/

"
The Scottish Government insisted its forthcoming zero waste regulations would not allow for large-scale incineration in Scotland, and this would be enforced by Sepa. “It is the role of the planning authority for their area to determine the suitability of planning applications,” said a Government spokesman. He pointed out Sepa viewed an incinerator with a capacity of more than 300,000 tonnes as large scale.

[bigmac]

you will note that the angry people who say they govern in our name, but fail to follow the wishes of the people as it does not suit their plan, want to turn us into a third world country just so they can get their names in the history books and a statue before they retire, always refer to the UK government as the "westminster government" they do not refer to the "mickey mouse outfit" ruining our country as the "Edinburgh Government" I wonder why.?

[Bill Fernie]

Take the politics out of this debate and begin to look seriously at the problems faced by all councils in the UK. The landfill tax has been increasing for several years and the bill is now very large each year eating up your money. Money paid by councils to landfill taxes reduces money for all other services.

Sorting out your rubbish by recycling helps a lot but the problem left is still huge.

Many other European countries have had incinerators for a long time and seem to have dealt with or put up with the residual issues.

Every council is trying to deal with the issue.

We are now faced with a deadline by government to ban all landfill disposals in just another 3 or 4 years. Time is running out.

Highland council recently had a paper on the issue and their proposals can be seen at
https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/73617/item_23_-_waste_management_strategy_-_final_business_case (17 May 2018 at Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee).

there are no easy answers or the solutions would by now be in place. Differing factions on all councils have prevented (some might say dithered) to get a solution. There is not one that will satisfy everyone. Choices are now limited and one must be chosen. The council is finally getting to one. Like it or not we all have to live with our waste and deal with it - the days of hiding it in the ground are coming to an end.

[concerned resident]

Are we still the rubbish dump for the highlands ?

[Goodfellers]

Ok, let's assume it's a done deal and Caithness IS going to get an incinerator.

To run efficiently, it appears that the primary chamber needs to reach a temp of 540-980C, secondary chamber needs to run at 850-1100C. That would be very costly to only dispose of locally produced waste.

I guess Caithness would then 'import' everyone else's waste, as I doubt we produce enough to keep the incinerator burning efficiently. So Caithness will continue to be the 'dumping ground' for the Highlands and Islands. If this incinerator is going to be power producing, how about reducing the cost of kwh for residents of Caithness. We have huge wind turbines everywhere and now (possibly) an incinerator producing vast amounts of electricity that is exported south where each kwh is cheaper than here (we could also discuss all the 'free' electricity Dounreay was supposed to produce). It's about time we (the local population) benefited directly from our county's remoteness.

I will also bet that Highland council planners will pass any application as Caithness is far enough away from Inverness, despite any local objections, or perhaps I am just cynical?

[kosacid]

no i agree at least hook up a few steam generators for electricity to keep the running cost down a bit and cheaper electricity would be a good thing

[Southern-Gal]

Do your own incinerating and produce heat for your home at the same time. Get a multitude burner in your home and burn what you can. Is that a worse plan than an incinerator ran by the council? At least that way the heat that is produced is used and so saves using another fuel.

[Goodfellers]

I think if it was a very small scale incinerator to dispose of local waste, most folk would be ok, but, as with landfill, I expect we will be burning much more than just 'our' waste. I would be great if this incinerator took farm waste too, save all the evening bonfires of plastic and whatever else. All that heat wasted. If it was used to produce electricity at least all that heat would be put to good use. Would also need to be free service to farmers to encourage then to use it.

[GSD]

For anyone really interested in the facts about modern incineration, rather than just hypothesizing I would suggest visiting websites about the Energy from Heat installation on the Isle of Man. I remember this being built in 2001 - 2003 when I was working on the island so it is a relatively modern installation. All the facts figures reasoning's, emissions (none) etc are available & it was sized for a small relatively stable population - so could be looked at as a good working control model for the Highlands. I remember that when it came on line in 2004 it had plenty of surplus capability & there was a lot of talk about bringing waste in to make it viable (do not know if this ever happened). I see that in 2010 there was public consultation about waste disposal on the Island as it looked like the plant would be at maximum capacity by 2014 - 2015 (60000 tonnes per annum.
Population on I.O.M at the design stage was 75000 (approx) population now around 90500, so even with recycling it would appear that the Caithness plant to deal with burnable waste just from the Highlands (population around 280000 at present) would have to be near the maximum build likely to be approved of around 300000 tonnes to make it viable for the next twenty or so years.

Link to I.O.M site for anyone interested

http://www.iomguide.com/right-photos.php?2089

[Fulmar]

Thank you, that's interesting.

[Green_not_greed]

Do you know where in Caithness it is proposed to be built ?