Edmonton EcoPark

The facility was commissioned (began operations) in 1971, by the Greater London Council. The building is of metal sheet clad construction with a reinforced concrete chimney. The incinerator was Britain's largest, handling unrecycled waste from seven London Boroughs: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Islington, Hackney, Haringey, and Waltham Forest. The waste is converted into carbon dioxide, bottom ash, air pollution control residue, and other flue gases. 55 megawatts (MW) of electricity are generated, sufficient power to meet the needs of 24,000 households. In January 2021, Taylor Woodrow Construction started work on an expansion of the facility known as "EcoPark South": the new plant, with a capacity to recover 135,000 tonnes of material each year, was due to be completed in 2023. The resource recovery facility and an EcoPark visitor centre were completed on budget, but costs on a larger contract for an energy recovery facility rose from £1.2bn to £1.5bn, due to construction material and wage inflation. Completion of the project by Acciona, originally scheduled for 2025, was delayed to 2027. ==Environmental impact and protests==

The site has been the scene of a demonstration by Greenpeace, who are against all incinerators because they emit "a cocktail of chemicals that can cause cancers and asthma attacks", and that incineration "undermines targets for waste reduction and recycling". In October 2000 they scaled and occupied the station's chimney, shutting its operations down for four days. The incinerator has also been campaigned against by Friends of the Earth and Londoners Against Incineration. In 2007, there were concerns that a rise in infant deaths in the area was caused by fumes from the incinerator. ==Today==

The site is run by LondonEnergy. Trials are being carried out to use the River Lee Navigation in transporting materials to the incinerator. A large composting facility opened on the site in 2006, allowing green and kitchen waste from local homes to be converted into compost. ==References==