Southampton is incinerating 70 per cent of household waste

Over the past decade, the amount of material incinerated by the city council has risen by 12 per cent - putting it in the top ten of local authorities that burn huge amounts of rubbish.

During the same period the amount of Southampton waste sent to landfill sites or recycled has declined.

The figures have come under fire from environmental campaigners. An expert at a Southampton university described the situation as "insane", and Greenpeace has condemned the "shocking" increase in the use of burners.

Incineration is often seen as a cheaper and greener alternative to using landfill sites. (Image: Pixabay)

Greenpeace political campaigner Rudy Schulkind said: "Ultimately, this rise in incineration is just another symptom of a broken system that produces too much waste and overwhelms our recycling systems.

"The single most important thing the government can do is stop this problem at source and prevent so much waste being created in the first place.

"Only when we address runaway plastic production will the government be able to tackle our throwaway culture and move us towards the circular economy they speak so much about."

READ MORE: Plan to build new Hampshire incinerator rejected amid concerns over its visual and environmental impact

Incineration is often seen as a cheaper and greener alternative to landfill.

Large "energy from waste" facilities produce electricity for the National Grid. But environmental campaigners say they also pump out huge amounts of  greenhouse gases, plus harmful particles linked to disease.

The growing use of incinerators has sparked protests across the country (Image: Trevor Porter)

Ian Williams, Professor of Applied Environmental Science at the University of Southampton.

He said: "We have this insane situation where in England, we've already got more than 45 per cent incineration in most regions of the country, which means we can't possibly theoretically meet our recycling target the next year and we're planning to build more incinerators, which will take us further and further away from our own targets."

READ MORE: Wheelie bins set to be introduced in the New Forest in a bid to improve recycling rates

United Kingdom Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) claims that burners harm recycling rates and worsen climate change.

Shlomo Dowen, UKWIN's national co-ordinator, said: "It's appalling that so much waste is being incinerated because much of that material could have been collected for recycling or composting instead.

"Incinerators not only waste valuable resources but are even worse for the climate than fossil fuels. For the sake of the environment Southampton City Council needs to do much more to divert this material away from incineration."

Incinerator operators include Veolia, which operates an energy from waste facility in Marchwood (Image: Newsquest)

Dr Dominic Hogg is an environment campaigner and founder of the environmental consultancy company Eunomia.

He said the growing use of incinerators "looks like a disaster", adding: "We should stop considering these things as power stations, because they're not good examples of power stations. Their principal objective is to get rid of waste."

Figures relating to the growing use of burners have been obtained by the BBC Climate and Science Team and its Shared Data Unit.

The BBC says 70 per cent of household waste collected in the Southampton city council area in 2022-23 was incinerated, compared to 58.5 per cent in 2015.

Only eight other local authorities burned more rubbish than Southampton in 2022-23. The highest figure was recorded by the London Borough of Lewisham, which sent 80 per cent of its household rubbish to incinerators.

Southampton City Council is incinerating 70 per cent of the household waste it collects in its area (Image: Newsquest)

Over the same period, the amount of household waste Southampton recycled or sent to landfill declined - with landfill use dropping to 4.3 per cent.

Nationally the amount of harmful greenhouse gases pumped out by England’s 52 main incinerators is reported to have jumped by more than 40 per cent in just five years.

Cllr Eamonn Keogh, cabinet member for environment and transport at Southampton City Council, said: "The collection and disposal of household waste is delivered across Hampshire by an integrated waste management system.

"The system’s strategic direction is coordinated by Project Integra, a partnership of Hampshire County Council, its 11 districts, and unitary authorities Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council. 
 
“Southampton City Council and its Project Integra partners send a significant proportion of collected waste to Energy From Waste (EFW) facilities, all of which comply with the latest emission requirements.  

“Energy recovery from waste materials is an approach preferred over landfill, in line with the waste hierarchy, and some waste materials we collect (such as persistent organic pollutants) must be incinerated.

"This approach has allowed Southampton City Council to send only 4.3% of its municipal waste to landfill in 2022-23, a rate 1.7 times lower than the national average (7.3%). 

“Southampton City Council and its partners are planning for the inclusion of EFW facilities within the UK Emissions Trading Scheme from 2028, and the measures required to decarbonise and reduce the volume of waste sent to EFW facilities.

"We are working with our partners to deliver improved dry mixed recycling and food waste recycling to reduce the amount of waste going to EFW facilities, and collaborating on the resident communication and education that is essential in promoting the waste hierarchy and the prioritising the prevention and re-use of waste. 

“Southampton’s year-on-year recycling rates show a plateau, but these rates are lower than average and need to improve.

"The authorities in Hampshire recognise that a reform of recycling systems is needed and have plans for a new Materials Recovery Facility that will facilitate the acceptance of a greater range of materials.

" These plans have been impacted by ongoing delays to the legislation to support Simpler Recycling, and we are awaiting confirmation from Government on both funding arrangements and the details of the secondary legislation that are needed to enable us to make decisions about changes to our local recycling system. 

"We have made the point strongly, alongside our neighbouring authorities, that these delays have impeded our abilities to plan and deliver the changes necessary to improve our local waste system performance. 

“Hampshire authorities support a reduction in single-use plastics and a collective move towards more recyclable or reuseable packaging, but it is important to recognise that some plastics are needed to keep food fresh and avoid increased food waste.

"We can all play our part by reducing the amount of waste we throw away, and by making simple changes that can make a big difference to help our environment. Straightforward, practical waste advice is published on our website: Reduce, reuse, recycle (southampton.gov.uk)"

Large amounts of household waste is being incinerated instead of being recycled or sent to landfill sites (Image: Supplied)

Veolia operates an energy from waste facility site at Marchwood.

A Veolia spokesperson said the site produced electricity for 22,600 homes and also operated under strict regulations laid down by the Environment Agency.