Residents in a small Sussex town have expressed fury at plans to power hundreds of homes by burning ‘body parts and organs including blood bags’.
The plans to convert medical waste such as bandages, blood products and nappies into clean energy has alarmed residents who fear the process could lead to an over industrialisation of the town and cause air pollution.
MediPower is seeking permission to build an incinerator in Newhaven which will convert 1,200 tonnes of medical waste and turn it into electricity.
Local businessman Michael Burns, 62, the brains behind the idea, has claimed he has a ‘lead on the world’ in creating clean energy from a combination of plastic and biomass.
MediPower is seeking permission to build an incinerator in Newhaven which will convert 1,200 tonnes of medical waste and turn it into electricity
His firm plans to use a gasification process whereby it is heated to produce a synthetic gas which is ignited and converted into thermal energy.
The plant – based at the East Quay of Newhaven port – could burn 12 tonnes of medical waste a day delivering electrical and thermal energy to the port authority and local companies.
Mr Burns, a father-of-five, said his discovery that burning plastic alongside biomass creates a ‘pretty good fuel’ led him to look at hospital waste.
He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Medical waste from theatres has a high level of plastic and a high level of biomass from things like paper tissues, gowns and nappies.
‘We get paid by the tonne to take the waste and believe we will be able to hugely undercut the companies currently being paid by the NHS to take this waste to landfill.’
Although the permit application lists ‘body parts and organs including blood bags’ among the materials to be incinerated, Mr Burns insisted ‘there are no arms and legs’.
He claimed the worst thing the waste might include was the odd finger nail.
The plant – based at the East Quay of Newhaven port – could burn 12 tonnes of medical waste a day delivering electrical and thermal energy to the port authority and local companies
If it gets the permit, the plant, the first of its kind, hopes to power hundreds of homes and eventually employ 58 people.
Mr Burns also wants to open four more plants in England that create fuel from kitchen waste.
The local businessman studied chemical engineering and spent years working for motor companies including Daewoo and Ford before setting up his own firm.
Medipower’s application to Lewes District Council for an environmental permit has attracted more than 200 objections.
One resident said: ‘I can’t believe Newhaven is going to burn body parts along with clinical waste and have another incinerator.’
Another said: ‘The amount of pollution potentially emitted, the almost certain noise from traffic and the working of the plant, the destructions of habitat and historical land, and the non-accordance to the green plan by Lewes District Council is why this application should be denied.
‘Newhaven is not, and should never be a dumping ground for polluting industries no one else wants.’
Another resident said: ‘There is likely to be a great deal of noise, pollution and disturbance caused by the lorries carrying the waste to the plant.
Keith Taylor, Green MEP for Sussex, said the plant would harm air quality, increase traffic and questioned the need for more incineration.