More than 200 activists and residents from seven north London boroughs marched in protest at “catastrophic” plans to rebuild the Edmonton waste incinerator.
The crowd marched from Edmonton Green station to the site of the incinerator in Advent Way, stopping traffic on a section of the north circular on the way.
Activists from Black Lives Matter Enfield and Extinction Rebellion joined local residents on the protest against the North London Waste Authority’s (NLWA) plans to rebuild of the existing plant.
It is part of the estimated £1.2bn north London heat and power project, with 80 per cent set to be spent on the incinerator.
Protestors carried banners reading "Stop Burning Recyclables" and “Black Lives Matter”, in protest against the fact that the toxic gases from the incinerator will primarily pollute a majority Black and ethnic minority community.
Acciona, the Spanish multinational which is the only bidder left to take on the contract to build the new plant, was also targeted in chants and banners.
The march formed part of a national day of action against incinerators, with similar protests taking place in several UK cities.
A spokesperson for the Stop the Burn campaign said: “Saturday’s march should send a message to the NLWA and Acciona: north London does not want your incinerator and we will keep fighting until you back down.
“Your plans are catastrophic for the environment and devastating for a poor, multi-ethnic community in London.
"This is environmental racism of the worst kind and it must be stopped."
The NLWA is the public body which arranges waste disposal for Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest.
The existing plant dates back to 1969 and the NLWA is seeking to expand its capacity with a new project - with construction set to begin by mid-2022 at the latest.
Activists warn the project would end up as either an environmental nightmare or a financial albatross, rendered obsolete by new recycling laws and emissions restrictions.
Furthermore, no financing has been secured for the incinerator to be equipped with carbon capture and storage technology, which remains prohibitively expensive and unproven at scale.
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