#Beddington incinerator

[insidecroydon]

Now 'Basher' Lewis knocks out debate on polluting incinerator

The Viridor waste incinerator at Beddington Lane has broken the terms of its operating licence 60 times. But Sutton’s LibDems refuse to discuss the matter, as BERTIE WOOSTER-PARK reports Silencing debate: Barry ‘Basher’ Lewis would not allow any discussion on the incinerator Barry “Basher” Lewis, the leader of Liberal Democrat-run Sutton, this week conspired with the council’s chief executive,…

[onlinebusinessreviewsblog]

Merton TV proves recycling is being incinerated in Beddington

Online Business Reviews

Most of the recycling from public bins across Merton is being ‘set alight’ at the Beddington Incinerator.

When community campaigner Mark Gale was convinced that recycling in town centre bins was not being dealt with properly, he set about finding out more.

He first suspected something was up when he noticed that the coloured bin bags in two-sided bins were the same – green for non-recyclable waste instead of blue for recycling.

To check his theory Mark initially followed one of the caged rubbish vans collecting general waste for incineration and says he saw all bags going in the back together.

These are the tracking devices used during the investigation

Next he spent £80 buying four trackers to try and prove what he suspected.

He carried out the experiment on April 16 with Pippa Maslin from the Merton Green Party. The pair put the trackers in matchboxes so they could not be detected even if the bags were opened.

They placed four separate trackers in bins in Wimbledon and Morden, one recycling and one landfill in each town centre.

All four trackers moved to the Beddington Lane incinerator that evening and the signal was lost overnight – proof that they were incinerated, says Mark, as there was plenty of battery life left on them and they did not move from the site.

There are more than 300 dual bins in Merton’s town centres of Wimbledon, Mitcham, Morden, Raynes Park and Colliers Wood.

Pippa Maslin

Merton Council is part of the South London Waste Partnership which also includes Kingston, Sutton and Croydon councils – Mark is also concerned that the same could be happening in these boroughs.

Merton Council and the contractor, Veolia, have now both admitted that up to 80 per cent of recycling collected in public bins is burnt at the Beddington Lane energy recovery facility (ERF) due to it being contaminated.

The recycling is supposed to be taken to other centres in England to be sorted and recycled.

Mark, who previously set up Merton TV which records all council meetings in 2018, said: “When the bins in Morden had the same on both sides it was clear there was an issue. At first we thought it was one road sweeper who was making a mistake with liners but then we noticed the same thing happening in Wimbledon and Mitcham.

We watched the process over weeks and realised it was deliberate, we spoke to staff who suggested what we had guessed, both blue and green bags were going to the incinerator.

“It didn’t matter what colour bag was used all of it was going to be set alight in Beddington.”

Mark recently moved to Wales from Ravensbury with his wife and seven-year-old child, but is regularly back in Merton for family reasons and says he remains committed to keeping an eye on the council.

📰"Council to partner with leading sustainability charity to tackle recycling contamination in Merton"

🔵Blue liner On-street recycling 🟢Green liner General litter

But ALL litter goes to the incinerator🏭 in Merton, Sutton & Croydon so doesn't matter!https://t.co/hxxskLAJGX pic.twitter.com/x0XZydtuzY

— Mark Gale (@MarkGale) May 13, 2021

Like Mark, Pippa became worried about the issue in the town centre when she spotted that some of the double-sided bins in Morden town centre had the same colour bags in both bins.

She also has general concerns about SLWP’s use of incineration and thinks that councils should move towards a circular economy and not be “locked into a waste management system that will involve incineration for at least the next couple of decades”.

She said: “It seemed that the waste in the recycling bin was not being recycled but, rather, being sent to the incinerator. Just this past week, I noticed that four of the twin bins that I passed had bags of the same colour.

“I have heard that the council and Veolia have recently justified this on the grounds that general waste, usually food, often contaminates the contents of the recycling bins, but this is markedly unambitious.”

She thinks a solution to this could be installing public bins that allow people to separate their food waste to reduce the amount of contamination in recycling bins.

“I think that those who are not already aware would be shocked to learn that what they put into the public recycling bins is not actually recycled,” added Pippa.

Merton Council insists that this problem is only with public bins not household recycling, where it claims rates have increased from 39 to 42 per cent.

Natasha Irons, Merton Council’s cabinet member for environment and green spaces, said: “While recycling collected from on-street bins is less than five per cent of the overall recycling we collect, I know our community will be shocked to learn that so much of it has to end up being sent to the energy from waste facility instead of being recycled.

It doesn’t take much to contaminate a bag – throwing in liquid, food waste or the wrong materials will mean it is rejected at the processing centre for recycling, as anything over 5 per cent contamination means the whole collection is rejected.”

While a spokesperson from Veolia said that it is looking to reduce contamination where possible.

They added: “We can confirm to residents that materials that are sorted correctly for recycling will always be recycled. Unfortunately, ‘on the go’ recycling from street litter bins is often so heavily contaminated that it cannot be accepted by our sorting facilities, in which case it is diverted for energy recovery.”

But Mark simply doesn’t think the council is doing enough to ensure that less recycling is incinerated.

He added: “Why claim it is recycling when it is not? I think it is misleading and I wanted to highlight that.”

A video of the investigation can be found here

We at Online Business Reviews provide useful tips and resources on online marketing processes, strategies, tools and much more that would be helpful to any online marketer.

https://onlinebusinessreviewsblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/merton-tv-proves-recycling-is-being.html

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New website to show level of pollution produced by Beddington incinerator

Residents concerned about pollution from the controversial Beddington incinerator will be able to check out emissions on a new website. from This Is Local London | News https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/17560715.new-website-to-show-level-of-pollution-produced-by-beddington-incinerator/?ref=rss

[mccullytech]

New website to show level of pollution produced by Beddington incinerator

Residents concerned about pollution from the controversial Beddington incinerator will be able to check out emissions on a new website. from This Is Local London | News https://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/17560715.new-website-to-show-level-of-pollution-produced-by-beddington-incinerator/?ref=rss

[insidecroydon]

Air pollution worries after massive fire at Morden waste dump

Morden blaze: the flames could be seen from far in the distance of Merton’s Garth Road recycling centre The London Fire Brigade is advising residents across a large part of south London to keep their windows and doors closed through today, despite the summer heat, due to the heavy smoke from a recycling centre fire on Amenity Way, Morden, in the early hours of this morning. The Fire Brigade was…

[insidecroydon]

Council slammed over plans to create HMO in public cemetery

Residents in Beddington are up in arms over ‘insensitive’ council plans to convert a former caretaker’s lodge in a cemetery into an HMO – a house in multiple occupation – without consulting local residents. Haunting house: The Lodge at Bandon Hill Cemetery, which LibDems and Tories want to convert into homes for three immigrant families Bandon Hill Cemetery, on Plough Lane, Beddington, is jointly…

[insidecroydon]

More than 100 Croydon under-5s hospitalised by toxic air

Official figures show that Croydon’s air quality is so poor, 106 children aged five years old or younger had to be admitted to Croydon University Hospital with respiratory difficulties in 2023. Toxic air: parts of Croydon have levels of pollution three times higher than international standards The details were obtained through a Freedom of Information request to the Croydon Health Services NHS…

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LibDems have gone all parochial in Sutton, just as they like it

The national election campaign as it is being conducted in neighbouring Sutton has a very local feel to it, according to NICK MATTEY, Beddington’s independent councillor Here in Sutton, the campaign leading up to polling day on July 4 in our two parliamentary constituencies is essentially a local council election. The Liberal Democrats have put forward two Sutton councillors as their…

[insidecroydon]

Licensed to print money: incinerator's five latest breaches

Viridor’s polluting incinerator at Beddington Lane broke the strict terms of its operating licence five times during December, according to data released by the operator. Smoke stacks: the Beddington incinerator, polluting our air since 2018 Viridor failed to issue its usual two-weekly update during December – at a time when the Environment Agency was considering the profit-hungry multi-billion…

[insidecroydon]

This could be the last chance to save crucial wildlife reserve

Unfinished work: Viridor have been promising the conduct restoration work at Beddington Farmlands since 2005 Ahead of an expected announcement by Valencia about the overdue Beddington Farmlands restoration, Inside Sutton has uncovered attempts by the company to wriggle out of costly environmental and social obligations Extinct: a juvenile spotted redshank, a species that can no longer be found at…

[insidecroydon]

Grieving Mattey accuses LibDems of 'weaponising' complaints

The Sutton Council administration’s most vocal critic is to be hauled before a ‘kangaroo court’, at a time when he is organising his mother’s funeral. Report by CARL SHILTON Targeted: independent  councillor Nick Mattey Senior officials at Liberal Democrat-controlled Sutton Council are insisting on staging a disciplinary hearing later this month for a complaint raised against an independent…

[insidecroydon]

Westfield, the incinerator, NHS and Croydon's Gaza response

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[insidecroydon]

Vandals are out on Marlpit Avenue as ULEZ takes effect

Criminal damage to public property continues in Coulsdon, as data suggests a sharp reduction in the most polluting vehicles using the capital’s roads Expansion: ULEZ has helped to improve air quality in central London. The Tories oppose it Just as it did in inner London when introduced (by the then-Mayor, Boris Johnson, in case you needed reminding), all the early signs are that ULEZ is already…

[insidecroydon]

Health agencies ignored public's concerns on incinerator

As BBC television news finally catches up with the notion that what’s coming out of the chimneys of incinerators like the one at Beddington Lane might not be entirely wholesome or healthy, we take another look at the infant death rates in areas downwind of these these industrial plants What’s in that smoke?: the Beddington incinerator was built with its impact on people’s health hardly considered…

[insidecroydon]

LibDem power struggle after Dombey retires as Sutton leader

BELLE MONT on the end of an error at the south-west London council Dodgy: Ruth Dombey ruled Sutton with an iron fist for 12 years Ruth Dombey, the Liberal Democrat leader of Sutton Council, is standing down from the position in May. Dombey has been leader of the council since 2012, making her one of the longest-lasting council leaders in the country. Her announcement this morning attracted…

[insidecroydon]

Viridor accused of new licence breach with 'black, acrid smoke'

Viridor, the multinational firm that makes millions in profits from being allowed to pollute the air across south London, has admitted that a power outage at their Beddington Lane incinerator saw them leaving potentially toxic waste to “smoulder” untreated, possibly for as more than 24 hours. ‘That’s not steam’: black, acrid smoke was coming from the incinerator for several hours Residents across…