Plans To Replace Ageing City Incinerator

20 February 2026
ShareSave


Richard PriceWest Midlands


Plans to change an aging incinerator with a more efficient one are due to be taken a look at by city leaders.


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


They included it could also generate a "substantial" earnings which might be reinvested into local recycling and net no schemes.


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 serviceable life.


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


The city board's cabinet is being asked to start a formal procurement procedure to discover an organisation to with, who might invest, design, build and run the brand-new facility.


That procedure was anticipated to take 18 months, with the proposed center arranged to be up and running in 2032.


Cabinet member Finlay Gordon-McCusker said the current center had burnt more than four million tonnes of rubbish given that it opened in 1995, offering a "sustainable alternative" to landfill.


The council wanted to think about an "entrepreneurial" technique to running the center, he included.


Waste boost


This would involve a more considerable in advance financial investment than other alternatives, Gordon-McCusker stated.


But it was expected that the authority would make an earnings from the plan in the longer term, he claimed, through the sale of electricity and heat as well as costs charged to other organisations utilizing the site for their waste.


The new website could deal with about 230,000-290,000 tonnes of waste each year, which would be an increase of in between 10-38% of present levels.


A public consultation will run during March and April.