Gazette, Postbag.

Dear Editor,

You printed my letter last week reporting that the Rivenhall application, including a 360,000 tonnes p.a. incinerator and massive MBT plant - which shreds and dries 'black bag rubbish' to make fuel pellets for the incinerator - had been 'called in' for a public inquiry.

I had deleted by mistake the fact that the LibDem and Labour county opposition groups have consistently voted against incineration and opposed major longterm waste disposal contracts since 2001 when the Conservatives came into power in a landslide victory.

The Tories won on a vociferous campaign and manifesto pledging 'no incineration', but promptly rubberstamped the Waste Plan which permitted incinerators on any of the waste sites including Stanway. Lord Hanningfield said they were legally required to include it.

Two councillors and I took ECC to the High Court in 2002 and proved they did not have to include incineration. So the Labour and LibDem groups put a motion to council to change the Waste Plan to exclude incineration from Essex. The Tories scuppered it.

The sites for the costly 28.5-year waste disposal contracts will also include central 'MRFs' to sort mixed (commingled) recyclables for a high gate fee. Govt-funded research by WRAP last June proved this is much more expensive than kerbside sorting of recyclables.

Separating at the kerb produces high quality valuable material. These support our UK reprocessors and still received good prices when the market dropped recently for commingled contaminated recyclables collected in wheelie bins or sacks.

Having huge central waste sites also increases HGVs, mileage, pollution and climate change gases. So it's not just MBT and incineration we oppose! And of course, recycling and composting save global resources and energy. Vote for these please on Thursday!!

Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney, Co-ordinator,
Colchester & NE Essex FoE,
4 Shears Crescent,
West Mersea, Essex, CO5 8AR.