ACT: Green Alternatives to Incineration in Scotland
We request you to sign the petition issued by Green Alternatives to Incineration in Scotland (GAINS) to call the Scottish government to opt for greener solutions over waste incineration.
Currently there are 3 large waste incineration plants in Scotland, with proposals for a further 16. Collectively they would burn upwards of 2 million tonnes of waste each year. This will undermine recycling, add to global warming, destroy resources and pollute the air, land and water.
Incineration recovers only a tenth
of the energy used to make the products in our rubbish. It also wastes
money, as it is the most expensive form of waste treatment by far.
Additionally,
there are proposals for 5 very large biomass-powered generators. These
would burn around 5 million tonnes of fuel annually, consisting mostly
of imported virgin timber. As with waste incineration, this will produce
large quantities of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.
With these concerns in mind, we call on the Scottish Government to ban waste incineration and large-scale biomass burning.
