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Exclusive: Waste firms and councils accused of ‘greenwashing’ with false claims over burning rubbish for energy

"‘Greenwashing’ incinerator firms are burying evidence that burning household waste for energy can be more polluting than coal-fired power plants, openDemocracy can reveal.

Waste companies promote incinerators as generators of ‘renewable’ or ‘low-carbon’ energy but evidence from their own monitors shows that the UK’s 57 incinerators emitted more than seven million tonnes of fossil-based carbon dioxide last year, largely from burning plastic.

More than half of incinerated plastic is either “readily recyclable” or “potentially recyclable”, according to analysis of waste.

Some companies deceive children and teachers by supplying teaching material and hosting school trips in which misleading environmental claims are made about incineration."