A Wasted Opportunity?

摘要

The issue of how to manage the waste which we produce as a nation is a highly contentious, and often emotionally charged, one. It would appear that most people agree that there is an urgent and pressing need to move away from our dependence on landfilling in the United Kingdom and, of course, reduce the amount of waste which is produced in the first place. Indeed, not only is this a prudent and logical course for civilised society, but we are also under a legal obligation, imposed by the Waste Framework Directive,' to do just that. The most sensitive question appears to be what we should be doing with the waste that we do, and still will for the foreseeable future, produce. Opposition to new forms of energy recovery from waste, in particular those which utilise technologies such as advanced gasification and pyrolysis, seems to be as strong as ever, with numerous judicial review challenges being brought against facilities which have obtained planning permission and environmental permits, in particular by environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth.