A WASTE treatment company has suffered a setback by Carmarthenshire County Council on proposed waste gasification and pyrolysis developments in Carmarthenshire this week.
A report is due to be filed to the Planning Committee of Carmarthenshire County Council which recommends refusing Clean Power Properties’ plans to build the energy recovery centre in Cwmgwili.
The intended plans for development included a pyrolysis plant, a solar farm, and an anaerobic digestion facility that featured an education centre.
The process of Pyrolysis is primarily fuelled by a charcoal burner system and takes place where waste is broken down by the application of heat to feedstock in the absence of oxygen to produce a synthetic gas.
Clean Power Properties expects the pyrolysis plant to treat up to 128,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste, and industrial and commercial waste. The anaerobic digestion plant is expected to treat around 67,000 tonnes of waste a year.
The Council carried out consultations, which received a number of objections from local community councils. Also, the Council received 355 total letters from members of the public, objecting the proposal.
Shadow Secretary for Wales, Nia Griffith MP, was one of the members calling for the proposal to be refused: “It is clear to me that this is a half-baked proposal that will be very detrimental to the area. With the Cross Hands Food Park only a stone’s throw away and strong objections in from big employers there, it is evident this waste incinerator could be a real deterrent to investment and lose us far more jobs than the nominal 34 it might create.”
The report, written by the Head of Planning, states: “The proposal is not considered to respect the waste hierarchy as waste material which is clearly capable of being recovered in a high efficiency energy recovery plant is being utilised for disposal. It is accepted that the method of disposal in this case is a better option than landfill but it is not the best option.
“The proposal represents the wrong facility in the wrong place… In this case, there is no demonstrable need for the facility in this location, the facility does not respect the waste hierarchy and there are significant concerns about the impact of air emissions on human health and the environment. In such a circumstance the precautionary principle must be applied. The proposal therefore conflicts with the development plan.”
The United Kingdom Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) reacted to the news that planning changes will be reviewed for the facility by stating in a blog post that company should be looking to move away from gasification and pyrolysis.
Shlomo Dowen, National Coordinator of UKWIN, said: “This is yet another setback for gasification technology in general and for Clean Power Properties in particular. Rather than stumbling from one ill-fated incineration technology to another we hope that Clean Power Properties uses this as an opportunity to exit the incineration business altogether and focus instead on sustainable waste management.
“The future is in the circular economy, so we need to increase recycling and recyclability rather than building yet more unneeded capacity for the ‘residual waste’ that we are working to eliminate.”
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