The Council of State has annulled the environmental permit for the new biomass power plant in Diemen. According to the Council, the province of North Holland must first have an environmental impact assessment drawn up. This is necessary because 'wood waste' would be burned in the power plant. These are residual flows from wood production.
The case before the Council of State was initiated by Mobilization for the Environment (MOB) of activist Johan Vollenbroek, who argued that residual flows are equivalent to waste. They took advantage of a quirk in Dutch environmental regulations that state that a residual flow must be considered waste if the supplier wants to get rid of it. The fact that it concerns clean, untreated wood is not relevant. Because Vattenfall failed to provide sufficient information about the supplier's intentions, MOB was vindicated by the Council of State.
There has been discussion in the (chemical) recycling world for some time about labeling residual flows and circular raw materials as 'waste.' Current waste legislation hinders the rapid sustainability of society and hinders the achievement of climate objectives.
It is not certain whether the biomass power plant in Diemen will still be built. Vattenfall previously postponed construction due to uncertainty about social support for construction. Conservationists have been protesting against the arrival of the power plant for years and have filed various lawsuits against it.
Source: Agro-Chemistry
