A campaign group which is trying to stop a rubbish incinerator in Co Antrim has made a renewed call to ditch the project after an investigation into such schemes elsewhere was published.

NoArc21 described the BBC investigation into UK waste-to-energy plants as “alarming”.

Meanwhile the group behind the planned plant, Arc21, accused the BBC of “omitting” the effects of certain government schemes.

The BBC report published this week looked into both the cost of such plants and their environmental effects.

placeholder image — An artists' impression of the planned Mallusk plant

It examined data on pollution levels at incinerators over the last five years and concluded that waste-to-energy plants are now producing “the same amount of greenhouse gases per unit of electricity, as if they were burning coal” – largely as a consequence of more and more plastic being fed into them.

But the report goes on to add that "even if local authorities wanted to move away from the use of energy-from-waste plants they are often unable to due to restrictive, long-term contracts".

Arc21 (sometimes stylised as ‘arc21’) is the name of a conglomerate of Northern Irish councils which wants to build a waste-to-energy plant in Mallusk, on the edge of Newtownabbey

The plans have been in the pipeline for years; they were rejected by then-environment minister Mark H Durkan in 2015, were approved by civil servants while Stormont was in abeyance, but then rejected once again by the infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon in 2022.

But her refusal was quashed in Belfast’s High Court last year, putting the plan back on the agenda again.

NoArc21 said this week: “It is extremely alarming that the BBC has uncovered that councils in GB have been tied into eye-wateringly expensive long-term contracts to send their waste to be processed by incinerators. This is exactly the type of arrangement which we have been warning arc21 councils in Northern Ireland against.

“We would again call on arc21, and the individual arc21 Councils, to shelve this completely unnecessary project, learn the lessons from councils in GB, and save ratepayers in Northern Ireland from the huge financial exposure which has been clearly evidenced elsewhere.”

Arc21 said: “The BBC report and investigation omits the UK policy interventions which will have a beneficial impact upon the management of waste, such as implementing extended producer responsibility for packaging next year which should simplify the materials placed on the market, the impact of the plastic packaging tax introduced in 2022 which is promoting greater inclusion of secondary plastic in plastic manufacturing, and the introduction of a deposit return schemes for containers in 2027.

"These instruments should encourage industry to reduce the levels of fossil fuel-based items in the waste stream while encouraging householders to recycle more.

“This will be further spurred by the inclusion of energy from waste facilities in the UK emissions trading scheme in 2028 and will incentivise the diversion of fossil fuel hydrocarbons into storage or other uses, such as chemical production.”