DRAFT DISCUSSION PAPER JUNE 2007

The East Sussex and Brighton & Hove Waste Local Plan

We do not need a massive incinerator in Newhaven or a giant waste transfer station (WTS) in Hollingdean – the volume of waste they plan to handle is completely out of keeping with current trends in waste management and waste disposal.

It will represent a massive capital investment in order to deliver a waste management solution that no-one now in their right mind would pursue.

At least 80% of all household waste can be re-used or recycled – and even more waste can be avoided altogether as supermarkets and other retailers reduce or otherwise “green” their packaging.

There can also be no justification for pursuing the proposed technologies of waste-bulking and incineration without an urgent review, as other technologies appear to offer more sustainable, more flexible and less polluting options for waste management.

This is now the established direction of travel of other local authorities and the government - assessing and implementing alternatives to waste-bulking and incineration. For example:

Surrey County Council has re-negotiated its 25 year waste management contract with Surrey Waste Management to include anaerobic digestion (AD*) in-vessel composting facilities http://www.surreycc.gov.uk New Earth Solutions are building a kitchen and garden waste composting facility in Kent with a 50,000 tonne per year capacity

www.newearthsolutions.co.uk/

business.timesonline.co.uk

Southwark council has selected an alternative technology for management of its waste to avoid building an incinerator – the preferred bidder to provide this technology under the PFI waste contract is Veolia Environmental Services

www.southwark.gov.uk

*AD is a process by which waste is treated in sealed or “in-vessel” composting units, of which the by-products are biogas (which can be used to power electricity generators), bio-liquid and soil-improving materials

In the new “Waste Strategy for England 2007” the government is no longer pushing incineration as its technology of choice to avoid landfill.

Incinerators destroy natural resources, contribute to climate change, and release emissions that are a source of many health concerns.

Newer incinerator facilities recover energy from waste. But for example, anaerobic digestion (AD), a technology now being promoted by the government in the waste strategy for treating all kitchen and green waste, is also a technology that recovers energy from waste.

The capacity of smaller-scale technologies like AD can be increased or decreased simply and flexibly - depending on demand and changes in the waste stream. They are therefore a much better solution for the current changing waste management environment than large-scale inflexible waste-bulking and incineration facilities.

East Sussex and Brighton & Hove need to seize the opportunity to review the technologies in the Waste Local Plan before the incinerator and waste transfer station are actually built, as these are not technologies that are “fit for the future”.

If Veolia Environmental Services can offer alternative waste management technology for Southwark Council - instead of waste-bulking and incineration - then East Sussex and Brighton & Hove can ask Veolia to review technology options in our Waste Local Plan.

Veolia prides itself on tailoring solutions to what the customer wants “if our clients request it, we can provide it” Mr du Peloux, Veolia Environmental Services ( www.letsrecycle.com )

www.dumpthedump.org.uk