Opponents of a plan to build a new incinerator at Buttington Quarry near Trewern will hold a protest event this week.

Buttington Incinerator Impact Group will hold the demo against the project on Friday, with representatives of environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion also expected to attend.

The event will be held at Trewern School at 3.45pm on Friday.

Opposition groups who do not want the incinerator have raised concerns over the timing of the consultation into the consultation into the plans, citing the global pandemic as being too obstructive to be able to hold a full consultation that takes into account the views of all of the local community.

Local MS Russell George and councillor Amanda Jenner have both raised their own concerns about the project.

A petition started by Cllr Jenner calling for a moratorium on new waste incinerators has so far been signed by just over 600 people.

Chief executive Alistair Hilditch-Brown said last week: "Due to the nature of the planning process that we've entered into and the specific deadlines we have to meet, it was not possible to delay the public consultation."

The plans propose the development of an incinerator for up to 167,000 tonnes of waste per year, capable of processing non-hazardous, non-recyclable waste and transforming it into 12.8-megawatts of low-carbon electricity, which will be exported to the National Grid.

The size of the Buttington Incinerator means that Welsh Government ministers will make the decision on its approval rather than Powys County Council as the local planning authority.

County Times:

An artist's impression of the incinerator

The scheme will create 300 jobs during its construction phase and employ 30 permanent staff once operational.

Meanwhile, the developer behind the proposed incinerator has welcomed a European ruling that producing energy from waste can be counted as a sustainable economic activity.

Analysis of the process by consultancy PwC for FEAD (the European federation of waste management and environmental services) concluded that waste incineration for energy recovery was different to burning waste for disposal.

PwC said producing energy from waste could fulfil environmental objectives by diverting non-recyclable waste from landfill, encouraging recycling and cutting emissions.

Mr Hilditch-Brown welcomed the findings.

He said: “Our own data shows that when it’s built, Buttington Energy Recovery Facility will provide an innovative way to significantly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill while generating low-carbon energy at the same time. It will be a significant step in the right direction towards helping Wales to become a zero-waste nation by 2050.”