EU to charge for emissions from waste incineration

EU officials said that waste incineration plants will be required to pay for their carbon dioxide emissions as part of the EU's plans to add this industry to its emissions trading system.

The industry has strongly opposed the plans that aim to encourage'reuse' of material, reduce waste and force operators to invest into emission-capturing technologies. They claim they unfairly penalize incinerator owners instead of the companies who produce non-recyclable materials.

The proposals are part a push by the European Commission to revise?the EU's main climate policy. The EU ETS policy requires industries to purchase permits when they emit CO2. This creates an incentive for them to emit as little CO2 as possible.

According to three EU officials who spoke anonymously because the plans were not final, the Commission will propose adding waste incineration into the ETS but is still debating internally the timing.

One official stated, "We know that this is not universally supported by Europeans. So we are looking at ways to introduce it gradually."

A second official stated that the Commission is evaluating 2031 as an possible start date but this was still under discussion.

Incineration plants are able to burn a large volume of industrial or household waste at high temperatures. This allows them to reduce the volume by a great deal while producing heat, which many plants use in order produce electricity.

Many local governments, including those that run waste processing plants, have criticized the CO2 costs.

Veolia France, which manages?more than 90 waste-to energy plants worldwide, estimates that adding the EU ETS to municipal operating costs would increase them by EUR3.8 billion ($4.3billion).

Veolia's policy officer, Constance Maillard, said that municipalities "have no control" over the input to their facility and must treat waste regardless of the CO2 emission potential. She added, "It is a public service."

Officials said that the "EU proposal" will include a system for monitoring landfill emissions to ensure that the policy encourages recycling rather than simply diverting more waste to landfills.

(source: Reuters)