Birmingham’s Green Party group say the Labour Council’s decision to keep burning rubbish in the Tyseley Incinerator is a poor deal for the city’s residents and breaks their promises to tackle the climate emergency.
On Tuesday (25th April 2023) the Labour Council Cabinet approved a new contract to keep running the Tyseley Incinerator until 2034 or 2039.
Green Party Group Leader Councillor Julien Pritchard said:
“This city’s recycling rates should be a source of shame to the Council leadership, but instead of making desperately needed improvements to our waste system, the Labour Council is doggedly clinging to this old incinerator and outdated technology.”
“In 2019 the city council unanimously declared a climate emergency and promised to reach net zero by 2030, yet awarding the incinerator contract to Veolia means one of the city’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide will keep burning waste for at least another 5 or 10 years after that.”
“The Council says that burning waste is greener than sending to landfill. However, there are greener ways of dealing with most of what the Council decides to burn in the incinerator. Better recycling rates, increasing the number of different materials the Council recycles, and most importantly introducing a food waste collection, could drastically cut the amount of waste the city council burns.”
“If done in the right way, introducing a food waste collection, could also mean the return of a free garden waste collection. Meaning a win-win for residents.”
“Birmingham deserves bold leadership on climate and a better deal for residents. Unfortunately, this Labour Council is failing on both counts.”