Green hopes now ashes

LETTER: Like most people I know, I'm furious about this plan to burn waste in Shrewsbury. The Waste Local Plan specifically rules out incineration of rubbish anywhere in Shropshire.

This means the development is contrary to adopted local planning policy and to the original planning permission given to the Battlefield site.

There are better ways of dealing with waste – reduction and recycling – these are still very under-developed. Look at our neighbours for good alternatives to burning.

In Bridgnorth, the council offers a cash-back scheme for washable nappies. Why not try that?

In Powys there is a plastic recycling collection. In Telf- ord you can put yoghurt pots and margarine tubs in plastic recycling skips – why not in Shrewsbury? Chester collects plastic bags for recycling. Surely we can do that.

Ludlow has a weekly collection of food scraps, why don't we get a comparable level of service in Shrewsbury? In Congleton, only a short drive north, they collect Tetra-pak cartons.

Incinerators need to be well fed to be profitable – once operational there will be no need to develop any further recycling schemes.

We may as well all give up on recycling if this goes ahead. Building an incinerator big enough to deal with 60 per cent of Shropshire's rubbish will set a ceiling on recycling in the area.

This plan will have adv- erse impacts on quality of life, traffic, noise, landscape, water and air quality. It will undermine tourism and the historic and cultural value of the medieval Battlefield site.

H Spencer

Shrewsbury