Greens back £1.5bn Edmonton incinerator after warning there is ‘no better option’

Green politicians who previously opposed the reconstruction of Edmonton’s controversial waste incinerator have insisted there is “no better option” than pressing ahead with the £1.5 billion project - in a dramatic shift of their position. Ahead of local elections, Green representatives across North London pledged to explore every possible route to halt the development. But after taking control of the North London Waste Authority, the party says it has inherited what it describes as a “poisoned chalice”.

In a statement, Green members said they remained instinctively opposed to burning rubbish but had concluded that abandoning the scheme would risk catastrophic financial consequences. “We have found that political mismanagement by the previous Labour-controlled board has left us with no better options,” they said. “It is simply between this or bankruptcy.” The project will replace the ageing Edmonton EcoPark incinerator, which has been operating since 1971 and serves around two million residents across Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.

Campaigners have long opposed the development over environmental concerns, while supporters argue it is essential to ensuring the capital can safely process its waste. The reversal marks one of the most striking shifts in position by Green politicians on a major London infrastructure project in recent years. NLWA chief Councillor Jacob Cable, a senior Hackney councillor, previously told MyLondon it was “clear” that scrapping the project would be “devastating both financially for the seven constituent boroughs”.

The construction of a new incinerator has been plagued by slow progress and the current burner, commissioned in 1971, will stay in use until 2030. Its replacement was initially intended to be up and running by 2027, until the project was hit by construction delays resulting from Brexit, the war in Ukraine and high interest rates. The scheme was approved in 2017 and work began in 2022. It has been met with heavy pushback from resident groups, such as Stop the Edmonton Incinerator Now (STEIN), who fear it could increase demand for waste and release harmful particles into the air.

The previous administration, headed by Waltham Forest’s Clyde Loakes, assured residents it would meet government standards and act as an “exemplar” for future projects. The energy-from-waste incineration plant will use the process of selective catalytic reduction – converting nitrogen oxide into water and diatomic nitrogen – and a combined dry/wet scrubber to capture particles. He said last year that scrapping the plans would be the “worst possible outcome” for more than two-million people.

He added that not completing the project would be “detrimental” to North Londoners and would deny them “a safe, clean and low-carbon solution for managing their waste”.