Plastic and Incineration

A persistent issue in Coventry and Warwickshire is incineration. Oh, but don't call it incineration, the Conservatives call it a "Waste to Energy" plant. Is burning plastic, rather than strongly encouraging people not to buy plastic in the first place, the way to govern Coventry? Linking electricity generation and waste leaves Coventry dependent upon burning plastic.

It remains to be seen how much a local incinerator will devalue your house, despite recent rebranding. Incinerators are now ERFs (energy recovery facilities) or EFWs (energy from waste plants), focusing on their capacity to capture heat and electricity from the calorific value of rubbish.

Audaciously, this electricity is sometimes referred to as 'renewable', but it's a funny renewable energy that requires a perpetual supply of plastic made from non-renewable petroleum. Setting fire to the evidence of a throwaway society also rather scuppers the prospects for reducing, reusing and recycling.