Government film on some coincident fixes to waste disposal and energy generation.

This video was produced by the Central Office of Information for the Department of Energy, as part of a series called Renewable Energy Technologies. It reflected the John Major government's policy, recently set out in the 1991 paper 'Renewable Energy in the United Kingdom - The Way Forward', to encourage the development of renewable energy sources wherever "they have prospects of being both economically competitive and acceptable in terms of the impact on the environment.""

In a series of case studies, including Secondary Resources Castle Bromwich, Smith & Nephew in Hull, Woburn Abbey, Avon Tyres of Wiltshire, St George's Hospital Stafford and SCC Melton Mowbray, it finds a common solution to the waste they produce: burn it!

The alchemy of these various crucibles that turn base material into both clean energy and revenue is appealingly practical. Whether it is actually renewable or not - when it is dependent on the excess waste products of a fossil-fueled world - remains undiscussed. A post-carbon circular economy would need to find alternative ways of turning problems into opportunities.