Plans To Replace Ageing City Incinerator

20 February 2026
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Richard PriceWest Midlands


Plans to replace an ageing incinerator with a more efficient one are because of be 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 said.


They added it might also create a "significant" income which might be reinvested into local recycling and net absolutely no plans.


The agreement for the current 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 also be a significant contributor to the city's district heating network to provide public structures with low-carbon heating and warm water, powered by geothermal energy, a spokesperson stated.


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


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


Cabinet member Finlay Gordon-McCusker said the present center had burnt more than four million tonnes of rubbish given that it opened in 1995, supplying a "sustainable option" to garbage dump.


The council wished to consider an "entrepreneurial" method to running the center, he added.


Waste boost


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


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 power and heat along with charges charged to other organisations utilizing the site for their waste.


The brand-new website might 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 assessment will run during March and April.