Battlefield incinerator deeply worrying says Shrewsbury MEP

12.00.00am GMT Tue 24th Mar 2009

Shropshire's LibDem Euro MP Liz Lynne has condemned Veolia's plan for an incinerator near Shrewsbury after visiting the proposed site at Battlefield.

Liz met Sue and Steve Boulding and other members of the campaign group Safe Waste For Shropshire to discuss the potential impact the incinerator would have on nearby residents and the environment and their fears at the risks from toxic emissions which are inevitable with this form of technology.

Speaking after the visit Liz said:

"This visit has confirmed my fears that this incinerator could do untold harm to the local environment and to local residents. The potential for the furnace to release dangerous chemicals and dioxins into the atmosphere as well as huge amounts of Carbon Dioxide makes the plan fundamentally unsound.

"There are question marks over the filters, over the lack of continuous monitoring of emissions and also growing evidence of unexplained health problems among people living near other incinerators of this kind.

"The Waste Incineration Directive passed in the European Parliament has helped to bring in tougher limits on the maximum levels of chemicals an incinerator can produce but it also makes it very clear than burning waste should be a last resort after better waste prevention and recycling.

"I do not believe Shropshire is in the position of being in the last resort. Other technologies and techniques to re-use and recycle are still being developed. The digester at Ludlow is a good example. It should be possible in a few years to recycle virtually everything at an affordable cost. If we are to create a sustainable society then that is the way I believe we should be going."

"For the incinerator to burn the 90 000 tonnes of waste each year needed to keep it in operation it would have to burn a great deal of recyclable waste in addition to those items that cannot be recycled. Clearly this is not treating recycling as the first point of call. I am minded to object to these proposals and also oppose the similar incinerator planned for Telford."

• Liz Lynne has urged Shropshire residents who are concerned about the proposal to attend a talk by Paul Connett, one of the world's leading authorities in the field and Professor of Environmental Chemistry at St Lawrence University in New York State. At the invitation of SWS, Prof Connett will be speaking at Alington Hall at Shrewsbury School this Friday March 27th at 7.30pm