By-election candidate in incineration victory
15 July 2009
Green Party councillor and by-election candidate Rupert Read last night (Tuesday) won a clear commitment from Norwich City Council to oppose any incineration of waste in future.
Norwich City Council has now undertaken to urge Norfolk County Council to exclude incineration from its waste management options.
The city council was discussing waste management in the wake of the county council's decision to abandon plans for an anaerobic digestion plant at Costessey, to process waste.
Councillor Read spoke powerfully on the need to ensure that proposals for new waste managment strategies should explicitly rule out any possibility of building waste incinerators. Councillors backed his view.
Rupert Read said:
"I am pleased to have won city council support for the Green Party's opposition to incinerators. Incineration is a stone age technology incapable of safely dealing with modern waste. It does not encourage waste minimisation or recycling and it has long been associated with health problems for communities living near incinerators.
"The Green Party wants the best possible modern waste management methods, including improved recycling facilities, re-use and repair facilities and mechanical and biological waste treatments. These methods are safe, better for the environment and create more local jobs.
"'Last night's vote sends a strong message to the new Tory-led county council, which must now reassure city and county residents and rule out incineration. After the abandonment of the Costessey waste treatment project there are some current doubts about the Tories' intentions."
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