The Portrack Incinerator was a

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

waste Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor Value (economics), economic value. A wast ...

incinerator Incineration is a list of solid waste treatment technologies, waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-ene ...

and

waste-to-energy Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) refers to a series of processes designed to convert waste materials into usable forms of energy, typically electricity or heat. As a form of energy recovery, WtE plays a crucial role in both wa ...

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

situated on the

River Tees The River Tees (), in England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea in the North East of England. The modern-day history of the river has been tied with the industries ...

at Portrack in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England.

Incinerator history

The incinerator was opened in 1975 to burn the domestic waste of the four local authorities of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

Stockton on Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees V ...

, Redcar & Cleveland and

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

. It was praised as an environmentally friendly answer to waste management on Teesside. The plant burned approximately 200,000 tonnes of waste every year and had the potential capacity to generate 20

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s (MW) of electricity although it never actually did so. Ash from the incinerator was sent to landfill and ferrous metal baled and sold on as scrap. During the 1980s, a former quarry at Whitton was used as a site to dump the incinerator's ash. In the early 1990s, Northumbrian Water and Internal Technology Europe Ltd. applied for planning permission to build a

sludge Sludge (possibly , or some dialect related to slush) is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. It can be produced as a settled sus ...

incinerator alongside the waste incinerator. These plans were refused, despite an appeal in 1992. The incinerator was closed down in November 1996, after failing to meet new emission regulations. The plant was then demolished and its site cleared between 1998 and 2000. The incinerator's tall chimney was demolished on 14 March 1999. The budget for the demolition went into the red in early 2000. The north part of the site was used as the Stockton civic amenity dump, until it closed in December 2001. The incinerator was superseded by the Teesside WTE Power Station a couple of miles down river at

Haverton Hill Haverton Hill is an area within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. Once considered a part of Billingham, Haverton Hill was once a thriving industrial community which has suffered significant depopula ...

Portrack Meadows Wildlife Reserve

After the Portrack Incinerator site was cleared it was transformed into a site for recreation and wildlife and named ''Portrack Meadows Wildlife Reserve''. The site is managed by

Tees Valley Wildlife Trust The Tees Valley Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the Tees Valley area of England. Its area of operation corresponds to the four unitary authorities of Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland, covering pa ...

who have placed several interpretation boards around the site for the visitor. At the site's blocked-off northern road entrance is a public sculpture entitled ''Germination'' (2005) commissioned by Tees Valley Wildlife.; ; ;

Flora

Many trees were planted around the incinerator to screen it off, but when the site was cleared to give other plants a chance to grow, many of these trees were

pollarded Pollarding is a pruning system involving the removal of the upper branches of a tree, which promotes the growth of a dense head of foliage and branches. In ancient Rome, Propertius mentioned pollarding during the 1st century BCE. The practice h ...

. After clearing the incinerator site it was planted with hedgerows, oak trees and sown with wildflower seeds.; However the concrete base of the incinerator still remains under the site—a fact that may account for the extremely dense vegetation.

References

{{Navboxes , list1= {{Geographic location , Northwest = , North = , Northeast = , West = Portrack,

Portrack Marsh Nature Reserve Portrack Marsh Nature Reserve is a reserve by the northern bank of the River Tees between the Tees Barrage and the Tees Viaduct, near Portrack housing estate in Stockton-on-Tees borough, County Durham. It is the last remaining wetland on the ...

, Centre = (Portrack Incinerator),
Portrack Meadows Wildlife Reserve , East =

Tees Newport Bridge The Tees Newport Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge spanning the River Tees a short distance upriver from Tees Transporter Bridge, linking Middlesbrough with the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Northern England. It no longer lifts, but still acts as ...

, Southwest =

Maze Park Nature Reserve Maze Park is a urban nature reserve in Middlesbrough, England on the south bank of the Tees on part of the former Tees Marshalling Yard. It was created by the Teesside Development Corporation and is owned and run by the Tees Valley Wildlife T ...

, South =

Tees Viaduct The A19 Tees Viaduct or Tees Flyover is a high level six-lane dual carriageway road bridge in the North East of England carrying the main A19 road, A19 trunk road north–south across the River Tees. The bridge is located between Middlesbroug ...

, Southeast = ''

'' {{Electricity generation in North East England {{Incineration in the United Kingdom {{Tees Valley Wildlife Incinerators Nature reserves in County Durham Buildings and structures in Stockton-on-Tees