28th December 2007

Oxfordshire County Council's recent decision (1) to back the construction of a new incinerator to deal with the County's domestic waste is misguided, claim the Greens.

 The decision, press released just before Xmas at a time when it was unlikely to register with the media and local residents, is highly unlikely to deliver a sustainable waste strategy.

Says Green City and County Councillor Craig Simmons: "Incinerators, even those which produce electricity, are a very environmentally inefficient means of dealing with domestic waste. Numerous studies have shown that incineration produces very small amounts of energy (2) and relatively high levels of climate-damaging greenhouse gases (3). The County should be following the example of Councils such as Lancashire who have chosen to adopt a 'cool waste' management strategy which maximises reuse and recycling whilst avoiding incineration. (4, 5)"

Notes

(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7154173.stm

(2) The Burning Question (Oxfordshire Green Party 2006) http://www.greenoxford.com/documents/THE%20BURNING%20QUESTION.pdf

(3) Dirty Truths: Incineration and Climate Change (Friends of the Earth 2006) http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/dirty_truths.pdf

(4) http://www.no-burn.org/resources/library/Coolwastemgt.pdf

(5) http://environment.independent.co.uk/article2272189.ece