UK power station 'will reduce landfill waste'

A new power station in Cheshire will reduce the amount of regional waste sent to landfill, it has been claimed.

The government has this week approved the plant in Cheshire fuelled by waste from Manchester, Merseyside, Warrington, Halton and Cheshire itself.

According to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the heat and electricity produced by the 100MW plant will be used at the INEOS Runcorn chemicals manufacturing complex.

Malcolm Wicks, energy minister, said: "It's important that we move forward in tackling the UK's waste problem.

"The proposed plant will make use of local waste for the production of energy rather than contributing to the UK's landfill."

He added that while the proposal was controversial among the local community, the approval granted by the government takes into account these concerns, with the impact on public health being addressed through planning conditions throughout the life cycle of the power station.

In March 2007, a report from WWF claimed carbon emissions from power stations in the UK have increased by almost 30 per cent in the past eight years.