Plans To Replace Ageing City Incinerator

20 February 2026
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Richard PriceWest Midlands


Plans to replace an aging incinerator with a more efficient one are due to be analyzed by city leaders.


A new energy recovery plant, for Hanford, near Stoke City's Bet365 Stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, would power the of about 50,000 homes, the authority said.


They included it could also generate a "considerable" earnings which could be reinvested into regional recycling and net absolutely no plans.


The contract for the current incinerator at Hanford ends in March 2030, when it will be 35 years old and at the end of its functional life.


The job might likewise be a major factor to the city's district heating network to offer public buildings with low-carbon heating and hot water, powered by geothermal energy, a spokesperson said.


The city board's cabinet is being asked to begin an official procurement procedure to discover an organisation to partner with, who could invest, style, build and run the new facility.


That process was expected to take 18 months, with the proposed facility set up to be up and running in 2032.


Cabinet member Finlay Gordon-McCusker said the current facility had burnt more than four million tonnes of rubbish considering that it opened in 1995, providing a "sustainable option" to landfill.


The council wished to consider an "entrepreneurial" approach to running the facility, he added.


Waste increase


This would include a more substantial in advance financial investment than other alternatives, Gordon-McCusker said.


But it was expected that the authority would make a profit from the plan in the longer term, he declared, through the sale of electrical energy and heat in addition to charges charged to other organisations utilizing the website for their waste.


The new website might handle about 230,000-290,000 tonnes of waste each year, which would be an increase of between 10-38% of current levels.


A public consultation will run throughout March and April.