Recycling appeal to fend off 'spectre' of waste incinerator

Hull and East Riding councils announced last week they were cutting short a 25-year contract with waste management firm WRG, which had planned to build an "energy from waste" facility, or incinerator, at Saltend, near Hedon.

The move delighted opponents of the scheme, who claimed it could have released harmful emissions and would have used out-dated technology.

But Beverley and Holderness Tory MP Graham Stuart, who founded of the campaign group Hull and Holderness Opposing the Incinerator (HOTI), in 2006, said recycling rates should be maintained to keep the prospect of an incinerator at bay.

He said: "From the moment I founded HOTI I knew we were in for a long battle, but Wednesday's announcement by the East Riding and Hull City councils has proved it is always worth fighting for what you believe in.

"The termination of the contract with Waste Recycling Group means the people of Hedon, and the surrounding communities, can quite literally breathe a sigh of fresh air in relief."

He added: "Recycling rates have been improving over the past few years and that is great, but we must all keep going and try and make sure we reduce the need for projects like this incinerator."

Latest monthly figures show that more than 45 per cent of household waste is being recycled in the East Riding, and about 50 per cent in Hull. This reduced the need for the proposed incinerator, which would have burned up to 240,000 tonnes of household waste each year.

Mr Stuart said it was the wrong option for several reasons.

"The incinerator was to have been huge, old fashioned and inefficient," he said.

"Most of the energy it was to produce would simply have been vented up the chimney.

"Local people did not want it and we have argued consistently for a greener, cleaner, more sustainable approach to dealing with our waste."

WRG will continue providing other waste management services to the councils until March 2013, the councils said.