Taxpayers will lose out with new Worcestershire Incinerator
03 October 2008
Plans for a massive waste burner for Worcestershire have been criticised as a 'waste of money' by local Green campaigners. The County Council has asked private contractor, Mercia Waste, to come forward with a location for an incinerator within 3 months. Previous proposals were thrown out in 2002 for a waste incinerator near to Kidderminster after angry protests from residents.
Worcestershire County Council plans to enter into a public-private finance contract with Mercia Waste and to begin construction as early as 2010. The incinerator would burn a proportion of waste that is currently sent to landfill but the Green Party has attacked the plans as 'waste of money' claiming that there are cheaper and greener alternatives available.
The Green Party's Felicity Norman points at the Kent County Council disaster where a public-private finance initiative set up ten years ago is now seen as a financial mistake by Kent County Council despite being told by experts that it would save them money. Kent claims the waste contract is costing £1 million per year more than it should actually cost to deal with the county's waste. The value of recyclables has risen since the Council signed the contract but the Council sees no benefit due to their incinerator contract.
The Greens are calling for a county recycling rate 70% (up from the current 32%), which is the target set by the Welsh and Scottish Governments and is already achieved in Flanders, Belgium [5]. Warwick District Council are achieving a recycling rate of over 60%. In addition, the Greens would like to see an anaerobic digestor for Worcestershire, which would take food waste. A similar scheme is operational in Ludlow.
Felicity Norman of the Green Party and Candidate in the 2009 European elections said: "Incineration is yesterday's technology and will leave the taxpayers fuming when they see the waste of money. Worcestershire Council has been awarded 'beacon status' for climate change but building an incinerator would be a blatant contradiction to its own policies."
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