Burning desire

We have a problem with rubbish. Constant exhortations to recycle more, compost food waste and generally be more careful about what goes into our dustbins are meant to make us more environmentally conscious, but they mask a deeper problem. We are running out of landfill sites — fast.

The UK produces some 30 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year, some 70 per cent of which is landfilled. But according to the

, there is only six years-worth of landfill space left in the UK. Meanwhile, the

says we must reduce the amount of biodegradable MSW sent to landfill by a quarter by 2010, or pay a fine of £150 a tonne over the limit.

As if to underline this point, Gordon Brown's latest Budget increased the landfill tax by £8 a tonne a year, rising to £48 a tonne by 2010.

Waste-to-energy technologies offer an enticing way around this problem. Much of the MSW produced by households and collected by local authorities has organic content, so is a potential fuel. Also, it is biodegradable, making it a carbon-neutral fuel, thus counting towards the UK's goal of generating 10 per cent of its electricity from renewable resources by 2010.