Incinerator campaign (Norfolk County Council Liberal Democrats)

Norfolk County Council Liberal Democrats <info@norfolkcclibdems.org.uk>

Our campaign against incineration

Costessey councillor Tim East has led a tough local campaign against incineration

The issue

Following the persistent efforts of fervent anti-incineration campaigners such as Lib Dem County Councillor for Costessey, Tim East, Norfolk County Council has performed a u-turn and decided to appoint incinerator-rival, NEWS SRM, as the preferred bidder for the first of its two planned contracts to deal with future residual domestic waste.

Many objections had been raised to the methods of waste disposal that the Council's former preferred bidder, incineration company WRG, proposed to use. In the end it was as a result of ongoing problems finding a suitable site that the company's plans to build a large new incinerator at a site in Costessey were put to one side.

NEWS SRM proposes instead of incineration to use an innovative process of mechanical biological treatment with anaerobic digestion based in Costessey to reduce waste going to landfill. Paperwork is still being completed but we hope to see the plant up and running soon.

The County Liberal Democrats have never been complacent on this issue, however. With work now underway to choose a waste technology for a second larger residual domestic waste contract we believe that there is still a strong possibility of a new proposal for an incinerator coming forward in the west of the county.

Our view

We continue to oppose incineration for the following reasons: 1) incinerators are a blot on the landscape 2) we think incineration poses a health risk to local residents 3) there are better, more environmentally-friendly alternatives to incineration available to us today, which also produce energy.

We believe that, given what is happening to our planet, the incineration method of disposal of waste should have no place in this country, let alone Norfolk. We will have to be on our guard when it comes to the next round of waste contracting as we are aware that many influential members of the Council's ruling Conservative group favour the use of incineration in Norfolk and are likely to try and get it back on the agenda.

Tim East, councillor for Costessey and a staunch opponenet to incineration says:

"When there are environmentally friendly alternative technologies available which do not pose a threat to public health and recycle waste to produce energy, it beggars belief that Incineration is still on the table for consideration as a way of dealing with residual waste in the County."

What we are doing about it

We are taking part in discussions at the Council about what future waste disposal technologies should be used in Norfolk and we are using formal council channels to keep a close eye on any new developments within either of the big waste contracts.

At the moment we are satisfied that plans for the SRM NEWS Mechanical Biological Plant with Anaerobic Digestion at Costessey are progressing and that no definite decisions have yet been made about a technology for waste disposal in the west of the county.