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 effective one are because of be taken a look at by city leaders.


A 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 said.


They added it might also produce a "substantial" income which might be reinvested into regional recycling and net no plans.


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


The project could likewise be a major factor to the city's district heating network to provide public buildings with low-carbon heating and hot water, powered by geothermal energy, a representative said.


The city council's cabinet is being asked to begin a formal procurement process to find an organisation to partner with, who could invest, style, build and run the brand-new facility.


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


Cabinet member Finlay Gordon-McCusker stated the existing center had actually burnt more than four million tonnes of rubbish because it opened in 1995, offering a "sustainable option" to landfill.


The council wished to consider an "entrepreneurial" method to running the facility, he included.


Waste increase


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


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


The new site might manage about 230,000-290,000 tonnes of waste each year, which would be a boost of between 10-38% of existing levels.


A public consultation will run during March and April.