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Britons are using so much “laughing gas” recreationally that explosions of nitrous oxide containers are increasingly shutting down plants that convert waste into energy.
The Environmental Services Association warned that the explosions of the canisters were costing the waste management industry tens of millions of pounds a year, with most of the bill passed to local authorities.
The problem has been exacerbated since legislation passed by parliament in 2023 classed nitrous oxide, or “laughing gas”, as a Class C drug and banned possession of the smaller containers, often used to whip cream, without a good reason.
The ESA, which speaks for the sector, said the change had encouraged a shift to larger canisters of 600-700g. It suspects they are easier to justify possessing to police, even though they could cause larger explosions.
Charlotte Rule, head of climate and energy policy at the ESA, said: “Since 2023, we have noticed a shift towards larger, more destructive, containers.
“Some plants are now seeing several significant explosions each week and the damage they inflict can cause plants to have to shut down for unplanned repairs, costing operators millions a year.”
Nitrous oxide cylinders © ESA
A laughing gas canister that has exploded © ESA
When nitrous oxide containers explode, they puncture holes in furnaces designed to burn tens of thousands of tonnes of waste a year and separate out metals for recycling.
This sometimes leads to a shutdown of the facility, with unplanned closures triggering substantial additional costs covering start-up fuel, repairs, maintenance and replacement parts.
The UK has about 60 energy-from-waste power plants, which convert non-recyclable material into electricity, heat and fuel, and are run by companies including Veolia, Suez, Viridor and Cory Energy on behalf of local authorities.
Most are on long-running private finance initiative contracts, meaning they will be handed back to local authorities within the next decade.
Suez, the French multinational that operates 10 energy-from-waste facilities in Britain, said it had dealt with 7,000 nitrous oxide canister explosions across its fleet last year.
Tim Otley, chief operating officer of energy for Suez recycling and recovery UK, said the explosions were costing about £4.9mn a year in business interruption costs.
“These are assets we operate under contracts with local authorities so there is also an impact to the public purse,” he said.
David Crawford, plant manager for Cory’s facility in east London, said that last year he had identified about 670,000 canisters in the waste stream, of which approximately 4,000 exploded.
“We don’t want them in our waste streams but currently have no alternative but to process them,” he said.
The ESA is pressing the government to introduce tighter restrictions on sales of the canisters and a form of deposit-return scheme or mandatory tracking so the containers can be safely disposed of.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs did not comment.