Hampshire County Council incinerates more than half its waste

It is also sending more waste to landfill and recycling less than eight years ago, bucking the nationwide trend, according to a study carried out by the BBC and the Shared Data Unit.

The county council has six years left on a contract with Veolia, which oversees waste disposal in the county, however, experts have now begun to denounce incineration as a “disaster” for the environment.

Waste incineration, which produces energy for the national grid, was initially touted as a green solution to the issues surrounding waste management.

READ MORE: Controversial plan for huge Hampshire incinerator is rejected after thousands of objections

Veolia is Hampshire County Councils waste collection contractor (Image: Veolia) But now, councils around the country are burning millions of tonnes more waste than they did a decade ago in vast “energy from waste” facilities – most often situated in the poorest parts of the UK.

This comes after the BBC's findings that incineration is now the UK's 'dirtiest form of power', with some calling for a ban on new incinerators.

The BBC’s five-year analysis used data on actual pollution levels recorded by operators at their incinerators, and found that energy-from-waste plants are now producing the same amount of greenhouse gases per unit of electricity as if they were burning coal.

The closest incinerators to Winchester include one in Southampton and another in Basingstoke, both run by Veolia.

A number of planning applications to build huge incinerators in Hampshire have also been refused, including one near Micheldever and one in Eastleigh.

According to the United Kingdom Without Incineration Network (UKWIN) website: "Alternatives to incineration are less costly, more flexible, quicker to implement and better for the environment. Rather than incinerating waste, local authorities should focus on maximising re-use and recycling alongside providing a weekly separate food waste collection for treatment by composting or anaerobic digestion."

SEE ALSO: Campaign group against incinerator criticises county waste record

While this may be the case, many councils, including Hampshire County Council, are "locked in" to long-term contracts with waste management companies like Veolia.

This means that there are currently at least £30bn-worth of contracts with waste operators involving incinerators, some lasting more than 20 years.

The Chronicle approached Hampshire County Council for comment. A spokesperson said: "The implementation of these plans has been impacted by ongoing delays to national legislation to reform household recycling across England, applying a consistent approach. We await confirmation from the Government on both funding arrangements and the detailed guidance that are needed to enable us to make decisions that will support these positive changes to our local recycling system.”

They added: "This approach has reduced the waste being sent to landfill, which is recognised as [an] even more environmentally damaging and costly disposal method."

This contradicts the findings in the survey cited above, which states that the percentage of rubbish sent to landfill has risen slightly over the past eight years.