Greenhouse Gas and Air Quality Impacts of Incineration and Landfill

The report evaluates the climate and air quality impacts of residual waste treatment in the UK, comparing landfill and incineration across different scenarios. It finds that while incineration may currently appear more favorable due to energy credits, its relative performance is expected to decline by 2035 as the electricity grid decarbonises and waste composition changes. The study emphasizes that pre-treatment is essential for both technologies to align with net-zero targets and notes that incineration has a more significant negative impact on local air quality than landfill.

• In the current 'Today' scenario, incineration generally produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions per tonne of waste than landfill, primarily due to the 'electricity credit' gained by displacing other power sources.
• By 2035, electricity-only incineration is projected to perform worse than landfill in terms of climate impact, while combined heat and power (CHP) incineration and landfill are expected to be roughly equivalent.
• The relative climate performance of incineration is expected to worsen through 2050 as the UK electricity grid continues to decarbonise, reducing the value of energy generation credits.
• When using a 20-year timeframe and a higher Global Warming Potential (GWP) for methane, landfill appears significantly more damaging than incineration, though this perspective may overlook long-term carbon dioxide warming.
• Neither landfill nor incineration can meet local or national net-zero targets without the implementation of pre-treatment to remove recyclables and reduce fossil carbon content.
• Incineration is not a low-carbon electricity source, as its emissions per kWh are higher than those of combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT), renewables, and the UK's marginal grid average.
• Incineration has a more substantial negative impact on local air quality than landfill, with nitrogen oxides (NOx) being the primary contributor to health costs, although this can be mitigated by abatement systems.
• For landfill facilities, ammonia emissions are the most significant driver of negative human health impacts.

APA

Ballinger, A., Shanks, W., Hogg, D., Sherrington, C., & Duffield, L. (2020). Greenhouse Gas and Air Quality Impacts of Incineration and Landfill. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/1h2nalrh/greenhouse-gas-and-air-quality-impacts-of-incineration-and-landfill.pdf

Chicago

Ballinger, Ann, William Shanks, Dominic Hogg, Chris Sherrington, and Lauren Duffield. Greenhouse Gas and Air Quality Impacts of Incineration and Landfill. ClientEarth, 2020. https://www.clientearth.org/media/1h2nalrh/greenhouse-gas-and-air-quality-impacts-of-incineration-and-landfill.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ballinger |first1=Ann |last2=Shanks |first2=William |last3=Hogg |first3=Dominic |last4=Sherrington |first4=Chris |last5=Duffield |first5=Lauren |title=Greenhouse Gas and Air Quality Impacts of Incineration and Landfill |publisher=ClientEarth |date=4 December 2020 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/1h2nalrh/greenhouse-gas-and-air-quality-impacts-of-incineration-and-landfill.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ballinger2020greenhouse, author = {Ballinger, Ann and Shanks, William and Hogg, Dominic and Sherrington, Chris and Duffield, Lauren}, title = {{Greenhouse Gas and Air Quality Impacts of Incineration and Landfill}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2020}, month = dec, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/1h2nalrh/greenhouse-gas-and-air-quality-impacts-of-incineration-and-landfill.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }