Flies, rats and hush money – living next to a ‘monster’ incinerator

While Runcorn is home to the UK’s biggest incinerator, a significant proportion of the town’s local rubbish is not burned at the site.

Instead, some of the waste from the borough of Halton, where Runcorn is located, and from other Merseyside towns, is sent by train about 150 miles across the country to the east coast, to be burned on Teesside.

This whole area along the River Tees has emerged as a UK hotspot for energy-from-waste. The region is now home to three active incinerators, with three more in various stages of planning.

“We have become a dumping ground for everybody else’s rubbish by stealth,” says a Liberal Democrat councillor in Redcar, Dr Tristan Learoyd.

He says that incinerators in the area are tied into long-term contracts with councils across the country, which he believes will see large amounts of carbon emitted every year for decades to come.

“There’s a potential here for the number of incinerators to be in double figures,” he says.

“For my hometown, which has suffered a massive decline over the years, it’s just another kick in the face. We’re becoming the rubbish backyard of England.”

Linda Martin lives on the nearest street to the Wilton 11 incinerator in Billingham, Teesside, which burns more than 400,000 tonnes of rubbish every year.

She questions whether people in the locality are seeing any direct economic benefit from the facility.