There is no shambles over recycling site

From: Tom Shields, CEO, Sterecycle Ltd.

I write in relation to your article “Residents furious at rubbish recycling shambles” (Yorkshire Post, September 4).

The compost-like “Sterefibre” produced at Sterecycle’s pioneering waste treatment and recycling plant in Rotherham has not been “dumped in landfill”. In fact, 65 per cent of the waste we treat and recycle can be diverted from landfill. These recyclates include wood, aggregates, metals, plastics and a compost like soil substitute called Sterefibre. Some Sterefibre is being stored at the Hazel Lane landfill, in Hampole, Doncaster, in readiness for its transfer to non-agricultural land where it will fertilise soil used to produce energy crops, which generate low carbon electricity.

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As quoted in your article, Nick Balliger, chairman of Hampole and Skelbrooke Parish Council, is incorrect when he states that Sterefibre is an “untested substance, there is no data on whether it is harmful”. On the contrary, Sterefibre has been tested rigorously and evaluated by independent experts, which has established that it poses no danger to human health.

The Environment Agency has given full authorisation for Sterefibre to be used on non-agricultural land as a soil substitute and has approved the storage of the material at Hampole Quarry. Sterefibre has been shown to be beneficial as a fertiliser and the Company has customers for all the material stockpiled at Catplant.

Far from being a “recycling shambles”, Sterecycle is important to the UK’s efforts to achieve two crucial environmental objectives; to reduce the amount of “black bag” household waste sent to landfill and to produce more renewable energy. British failure to reduce use of landfill will result in significant EU fines and our technology provides a realistic alternative to landfill and mass burn incineration. Our plant in Rotherham is being expanded and we are targeting new sites for our recycling technology in Cardiff and London.

Sterecycle has appealed against Doncaster Council’s decision to refuse permission to store Sterefibre at Hampole and the associated Enforcement Notice. Sterecycle’s application for planning permission was supported by Doncaster’s planning department, but turned down by the council. We are committed to working with Doncaster planners to resolve the current issue over the future storage at Hampole Quarry.

Wrong road for pedestrians

From: Ray Nortrop, Doncaster.

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the recently extended College Road, Doncaster, is very much a flawed scheme. The carriageway lacks satisfactory pedestrian crossings. There is one at the new junction of Chequer Road and College Road. College Road replaces the defunct area of Waterdale which has three pedestrian crossings.

The general consensus is that there has been a distinct lack of consideration for nearby elderly and infirm residents of Hyde Park, as well as the hundreds of people employed in municipal offices, courts and the police station in College Road.

The advent of the Civic and Cultural Quarter (CCQ) now on the horizon provides additional support for my plea. The new carriageway has been designed to accommodate the CCQ which is a product of a previous administration at Doncaster Metropolitan Borough council, and not that of the present incumbent Mr Peter Davies.

Abominable intervention

From: D Harrop, Malton Street, Sheffield.

A BRIEF note on Libya. A recent news item informed readers that “Nato warplanes have flown nearly 20,000 sorties in the past five months” (Yorkshire Post, August 23). We are also told that a British submarine has been in operation against Libyan forces, and the cost so far to the UK government of these operations has been £260m, according to the above news item.

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These expeditions have been incurred, and military (RAF) actions undertaken in support of an armed insurgency in its attempts, successful or not, to overthrow and replace the infrastructure, and with it the administrative capability of the Libyan government to run its country. Yet Britain wages war by aerial bombardment with a country with which no formal declaration of war has been made, and which is a legal entity. The authorisation the British Government has to wage war comes by way of a United Nations Security Council diktat, via the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The enthusiasm of William Hague and David Cameron to prosecute this war, as agents of the United Nations, is abominable.

If this is the position we are at, can we be said to be an autonomous state?

Library loss for communities

From: Mary Vineall, Hebden.

I WAS saddened and appalled ro learn that North Yorkshire Council plan totally to axe their Mobile Library Service at the end of this month.

This is a service which provides a life line to many people in remote villages up and down the Dales. Many clients are elderly and have no cars. Numerous mothers collect books for children, to encourage them into the joys of reading. I also understand that most of the singularly dedicated and caring staff will be made redundant – another loss to these communities. We are all aware of the necessity for cuts – indeed the reduction in library services nationwide, but this total withdrawal of the mobile service seems disproportionately harsh on rural communities.

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