Plastic packaging bodies have expressed scepticism over proposals to convert London's 22m tonnes of annual waste into energy using non-incineration technologies.

The London Assembly yesterday published a report entitled 'Where there's muck, there's brass', which claims that London's rubbish could be used to generate electricity for up to 2m homes. Mayor Boris Johnson is now considering it.

The 34-page report did not mention packaging once, but a spokeswoman for the London Assembly told Packaging News that the conversion schemes "probably would include some packaging going into these new sites".

Its lack of focus and avoidance of issues was a concern for the Packaging and Films Association (Pafa) and British Plastics Federation (BPF) – primarily that the energy-from-waste methods the report proposed are not suitable for the majority of packaging.

Pafa advisor Peter Woodall pointed out that it avoids mentioning one of the most effective – and clean – means of creating energy from waste: "Clearly they are not talking about clean-burn incineration but the new technologies aimed at converting waste organic matter into energy," he said.
"This would not really include packaging to my way of thinking. Packaging is best recovered through conventional recycling – paper, metal, glass, plastic bottles – or through clean-burn incineration," he said. "Plastic has greater calorific value than coal so why bury it?"

Peter Davis, BPF director general, supported Woodall's view, and pointed out that the energy created from organic waste would not come close to generating enough energy for the target of 2m homes.

"The London Assembly is absolutely correct to look urgently at energy from waste," he said. "We have to embrace all energy from waste technologies to use un-recyclable material to generate much-needed energy in London."

"The fact is that landfill sites – primarily in Essex – are almost full. Therefore there is an urgent need to bring more energy-from-waste to London to deal with un-recyclable waste and provide much needed heat and power."

However, the report's refusal to countenance clean-burn incineration indicated a nervousness on the part of Boris Johnson to talk about a methodology that has drawn fire from groups such as Friends of the Earth.

Pafa's Woodall said the time had come for politicians to accept the benefits of the new clean technologies available.

"More dioxins are created on bonfire night than the entire industry creates in a year. Plastic packaging is an outstanding resource which saves energy and can then be recovered for energy."

The BPF's Davis added that there is only six years-worth of landfill capacity left in London and England and that from 2013 local authorities will face heavy fines from the European Union for failing to divert waste away from landfill (under the EU Landfill directive).

He highlighted the need for a public information campaign to educate consumers about the benefits of clean incineration.