Scheme for waste incinerator to go before city councillors

PLANS for a waste incinerator plant in Leeds will come before councillors and Environment Agency officials next week.

The City Council’s planning department has produced an updated “position statement” on the plans for an incinerator at the former Skelton Grange Power Station.

The 33-page document concludes that there is a “proven need” for such a facility in Leeds to deal with at least 300,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste originating in the 
city.

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Councillors will be given the opportunity to raise any issues or concerns with the Environment Agency at a meeting of the Plans panel east on Thursday, August 9.

Several residents have raised objections about the plans and Leeds Friends of the Earth has expressed some concerns about the potential levels of emissions from the plant.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that an extra 367 tonnes of rubbish was collected by Leeds Council as students packed up their digs for the summer.

The council picked up the additional waste – equivalent to the weight of 36 bin trucks – in Headingley, Hyde Park and Woodhouse with daily collections and street cleansing services over a three week period. The area is traditionally over-run with waste as term-time tenancies come to an end.

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The 367 tonnes of rubbish thrown away was on top of waste picked up during normal collections which ran at the same time.

Just under a third of the refuse collected was recycled, stopping 121 tonnes of waste from going to landfill.

Volunteers from the city’s two universities and student unions worked for 660 hours to make sure another 13.5 tonnes of household items were reused as part of their award-winning Green Streets service.

They even picked up a 42 inch plasma HD TV during their rounds which was sold for £200 with proceeds going to local charities Emmaus and St Vincent’s.

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Coun Mark Dobson, executive member for the environment said: “While we’d like people to plan ahead for the move at the end of term, we have to be prepared for the increase in 
rubbish thrown away in these areas.”