A council bid to plough £4.2 million into recycling across Telford & Wrekin makes controversial plans for a giant waste incinerator in the borough redundant, it was claimed today.

Green campaigners Friends of the Earth praised Telford & Wrekin Council for its proposed improvement and expansion of recycling and claimed there was now clearly no need for a new waste burning plant.

Members of the council’s plans board were tonight due to consider an application by developers Sita UK to build a huge waste incinerator at the Granville tip site but a report to the meeting recommends the councillors give it the thumbs down.

Sita UK general manager Geraint Rees has expressed surprise and disappointment that the company’s plan has been recommended for refusal but protest group Telford PAIN, five parish councils and Telford and Wrekin MPs David Wright and Mark Pritchard have all joined Friends of the Earth in opposing it.

Robert Saunders, co-ordinator of Telford Friends of the Earth, said of the council’s proposals: “We are very excited at this positive initiative to move forward to far higher levels of recycling and composting.

“The investment would help us catch up with best practice elsewhere in the country. The council has signed up to the Local Strategic Partnership’s Vision 2026 which calls for an approach to recycling and the reuse of materials to make us a national leader – a zero-waste community.

“This is a first step on the way. The additional step we call for is the introduction of a weekly kerbside food waste collection for an anaerobic digester to transform the waste into energy and a soil conditioner that can benefit our local farmers.

“Harper Adams is already pursuing one for its waste and we need one for the wider household, retail, restaurant and business community.

“This would be positive for long-term local employment, minimise landfill and help tackle our local greenhouse gas emissions.”