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The film contains several illustrations from the Raymond Briggs children’s stories Fungus the Bogeyman (who enjoys wallowing in rubbish). These are voiced by Bob Hoskins. We open with views of a landfill rubbish dump. Interview with Anthony Biddle of Packington Estate Enterprises Ltd (based near Meriden) who appears several times to talk about the use of landfill sites. Dumping domestic rubbish in landfill is the cheapest way to deal with it but is not the best for the environment. Interview with Peter Wright of Econofuel which is Birmingham City Council’s waste burning scheme. He talks about plans for recycling of domestic rubbish. Shot of children using a bottle bank. The sorting of mixed waste is difficult and expensive so another option is to burn it to produce heat and power. Interview with David Hunt MP who is the Minister for Energy Efficiency. We then see a trial project at Birmingham General Hospital where straw is burnt and another scheme that uses shredded tyres as a power source.
We then see b/w stills of electric dustcarts that were a common sight in the 1920s. They were charged by burning the waste that they collected. The practice disappeared when councils stopped being in control of power generation. Views of a modern power station. Interview with William Orchard of Orchard and Partners Engineers about the amount of energy that is lost in power generation. Views inside a modern efficient power station where heat exchangers are used to recycle heat energy. We then visit the combined heat and power scheme at Eastcroft incinerator in Nottingham. Views inside the Victoria shopping centre which is heated in this district heating system. This combined heat and power generation is common in Scandinavia (we see an example) but the CEGB and NCB (who provide coal to power stations) allegedly fail to see the need to make power generation more efficient. The downside to the system is the potential to release dangerous levels of dioxins when the waste is burnt. Interview with Stanley Wallin from the Warren Spring laboratory about the levels that are considered to be low.
Another issue is the varying demand for heat across the seasons. We then see the manufacture of fuel pellets from waste which can be stored. Interview with Peter Wright of Econofuel who explains the pellet manufacturing process. Another interview with Anthony Biddle who promotes the use of landfill and claims that making pellets consumes more energy than is saved. Further views of Biddle’s landfill site including shots of the gas extraction equipment and shots of David Hunt MP opening a new landfill gas boiler. Interview with professor Noel McAuliffe from UMIST who talks about fuel oil can be made from waste by a liquefaction process. He is critical of the lack of government support for his project. David Hunt MP is then interviewed to respond to this allegation. A graphic shows the amount of energy produced versus the cost for each of the projects considered.
Commentary by Kevin Mulhern
Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs
Played by Bob Hoskins
Research: Carlene Crowe
Production: Dolores Shine; Anne Clarke
Camera: Chris Weaver; Dave Ronnie
Sound: Keith Conlon
Dubbing Mixer: Robin Ward
Graphic Design: Brian Becker
Film Editor: Bob Woodward
Executive Producers: Robin Brown; Brian Lewis
Producer: Vivica Parsons
Director: Ashley Bruce
Production number 7312/86