Following public consultation on the Council’s Municipal Waste Strategy, the “energy from waste” or Efw route was chosen to manage waste residues and recover energy from these residues.

This Council’s municipal waste management strategy was developed following DEFRA (the DETR was dissolved in June 2001) guidance.

The report from the Division of Chemical Hazards & Poisons, London, said that on the basis of current knowledge, it would appear that no significant health effects would be expected arising from the operation of this process.

Research carried out in the year 2000 shows that across the UK, of all loss of life associated with NOx nationally, Municipal Solid Waste plant accounts for 0.0029 %. Therefore reducing MSW plant will lead to no appreciable benefit in health terms related to NOx, and we would be much better seeking to reduce NOx from other sources, like road traffic.

An epidemiological UK study, conducted by the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), considered the incidence of cancer in over 14 million people living near to 72 solid waste incinerators in England, Wales and Scotland. A review of the results by the Department of Health’s Committee on Carcinogenicity was completed in March 2000. This concluded that any potential risk of cancer due to living (for periods in excess of ten years) near to municipal solid waste incinerators was exceedingly low and probably not measurable by the most modern epidemiological techniques. The Committee agreed that, at the present time, there was no need for any further epidemiological investigations of cancer incidence near municipal solid waste incinerators.”

Modern Efw plants are not usually significant sources of Nitrogen Oxides or particulates in urban areas when compared to road transport.

Often, people are concerned that incinerators or Efw plants might be sources of Dioxins, and often combustion process will produce these compounds. However it is important to put this in a real world context – it would take 120 years of operation at the SELCHP incinerator in South London to equal the dioxin emissions from the 15 minute firework display in London during the Millennium Celebrations.

With the exception of simple waste reduction, all methods of waste management have impacts on the environment and so interact with it.