Information on Loughborough

County Hall's Rubbish Indecision Condemned

Posted on 03/11/2009
newsdesk

A report to County Council's Scrutiny committee on the 28^th October confirmed that the County Council is not prepared to rule any waste incineration when seeking tenders for County's waste disposal strategy from 2015. Three companies have been short listed to bid for the contract, Biffa, United Utilities/John Laing & Veolia. Significantly the Council has decided that it will not stipulate any particular form of waste disposal, stating that it 'would take a neutral stance'. This opens the way for the final three contenders to promote waste incineration in preference to the more modern, and environmentally preferable techniques such as autoclave and anaerobic digestion.

However other council's (incuding Leicester City, Gateshead, Rotherham and Tower Hamlets) have insisted that modern cleaner techniques are the only ones that are acceptable. Supporters of autoclaving also point out that modern waste disposal process have far higher recycling rates than incinerators, which need plastics to keep the fires burning.

Opponents of incineration are also sceptical of the claims made in the report that the amount of waste available for use as fuel will continue to rise to 180,000 tons per annum by 2040. They stress that EU directives, and people power are forcing manufacturers to reduce unwanted packaging, and to recycle more. Therefore the County will be forced to import rubbish from surrounding counties to keep the incinerator running.

Another report agreed at the last County Council meeting resolved that 'non strategic waste disposal sites' should be located in the new Sustainable Urban Extensions. Resents of Leicester Forest East and Thurmaston are now concerned that they will be used as 'waste transfer stations' to store rubbish from the Nottinghamshire & Northamptonshire , to ensure a stock pile to fire the anticipated incinerator that will be based at Shepshed. The new Leicester Forest East SUE waste site will have easy access to the M1, and the proposed Thurmaston SUE waste site will provide a stopping off point for Nottinghamshore's waste that will then be transferred to Shepshed on the A6.

Eric Goodyer, who is campaigning for an autoclave process to be chosen, said