Plans To Replace Ageing City Incinerator

20 February 2026
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Richard PriceWest Midlands


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


A new energy healing 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 included it could likewise create a "considerable" income which might be reinvested into regional recycling and net absolutely no plans.


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


The project might also be a major contributor to the city's district heating network to supply public buildings with low-carbon heating and hot water, powered by geothermal energy, a spokesperson said.


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


That process was anticipated to take 18 months, with the proposed facility arranged 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, offering a "sustainable option" to garbage dump.


The council wished to think about an "entrepreneurial" technique to running the center, he added.


Waste boost


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


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 in addition to costs credited other organisations using the site for their waste.