Some Councillors Support Incinerator !
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Waste |
Monster Incinerator
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Grundon incinerator |
The incinerator would burn up to 440,000 tonnes of waste per annum and generate some 150,000 lorry movements.
Note. This was written around July 04. For latest situation see campaign and latest news.
Cancer and Birth Defects Don't Bother Some Councillors
At a meeting of the West London Waste Authority (WLWA), Cllr Delanay (Ealing, Labour) and (in her absence) Cllr Lamey, (Hounslow, Labour) voted against incineration of waste. Cllr Marlow (Richmond, Conservative) and Cllr Routledge (Hillingdon, Conservative) voted in favour of the incineration. The other two councillors Jones (Brent, Labour) and Blann (Harrow) were don't knows. West London Friends of the Earth has written to councillors to make sure they know exactly what they are voting for. The text of the letter follows.
Letter to Richmond Councillors
I am writing to you because I was very concerned to learn recently that Richmond Council, through Councillor David Marlow, is pushing hard for the West London Waste Authority to sign a contract to send our waste to a proposed incinerator in Slough run by Lakeside Management. This is happening at a time when the West London Waste Authority has only just begun the process of developing its Municipal Waste Management Strategy which is supposed to take another year.
There are many reasons why I believe that signing this contract is not a good idea. These include:
Incinerators cause serious pollution Incinerators emit a variety of toxic substances which have been shown by scientific studies to cause health problems. These include dioxins (associated with cancer, hormonal disruption, reduced immune capacity and foetal development problems), heavy metals (associated with lung and kidney diseases) and dust particles (which exacerbate lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis). I understand that at least 25 GPs in Slough have joined local residents in speaking out about their concerns that the high levels of these types of health problem in the area will increase should the incinerator be built. I believe that we should listen to their concerns. Emissions from incinerators have been shown to travel up to 17 miles and this incinerator is approximately 8 miles away from our borough. Westerly winds will increase the likelihood of this pollution being dumped on us aswell as the people of Slough and of a substantial area of West London. Although the incinerator will be nominally regulated by the Environment Agency, it will only be inspected very infrequently as this body has severe financial and staff shortages. Even if one accepts that current emissions limits are safe, some incinerators have been shown to breach the emissions limits in their operating licences hundreds of times each year.
Incineration undermines waste minimisation, composting and recycling I gather that the contract would commit the WLWA to sending at least 100,000 tonnes of waste a year to be incinerated for 20 years. At present 800,000 tonnes of waste per year are produced in the WLWA area and rates of recycling are relatively low. However, during the next 20 years the amount of waste produced should drop substantially as waste minimisation initiatives such as the promotion of home composting begin to have effect. Recycling rates should also improve substantially so that at least 60% of the reduced amount of waste produced is recycled. Therefore a 20 year contract is likely to tie the boroughs of the WLWA into a system that will force them to burn waste that could be recycled or composted.
Incineration is an outdated technology The Slough incinerator is an out of date piece of technology. The amount of electricity that it will produce for public use will be very small. Substantial amounts of ash will be produced (usually approximately 40% by volume of the input) and this is still likely to require landfilling. Less hazardous methods of treating residual waste, such as Mechanical Biological Treatment plants are now becoming available and further technological advances are likely over a 20 year period.
Therefore I should be grateful if you could contact Councillor Marlow and tell him that I am very concerned about his role in trying to push other local authorities on the West London Waste Authority into signing a contract with Lakeside Management. I believe that a more satisfactory method of dealing with our waste can and will be found during the process of developing West London's municipal waste management strategy over the next year.
Please contact me to let me know your views about this or if you would like further information.
Yours faithfully - Margaret Salasidis
More information
If you would like to know more about our campaign, contact Margaret Salisidis on (020) 8876 4987 or msalasidis@another.com.
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(c. June 04)