For most power station operators the idea of using fuel that is not just free, but that they are actually getting paid to take, is probably something of an alien concept. But there is one generating industry where just such a model prevails. Burning waste is not a new concept. It's been going on at an industrial scale since the 1870s. In the UK that decade saw the responsibility for collecting growing quantities of waste shift to the municipal authorities. With that came the need to not just collect, but dispose of, large quantities of municipal waste, While large-scale incineration had been previously attempted unsuccessfully at a facility in London, in 1874 the first 'destructor' was built in Nottingham. Proving a success, the technology caught on and over the following years destructors became a common sight in Victorian Britain.
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