16th February 2007

Dear Editor,

Councillor Price makes some good points (Burning Waste produces energy 9.3.07)but fails to take into account how much energy has already been used to make the goods and materials we are burning in the incinerator. When this is taken into account recycling is very much better than incineration, even when incineration produces heat and power. If Sheffield recycled all of its plastics and textiles we would save the equivalent of half the greenhouse gas emissions from the incinerator.

Councillor Price also misrepresents Sweden's waste management. Waste is only incinerated to produce energy as a last resort, when efforts to reduce, reuse, recycle or repair have not worked.

Sheffield Green Party's position is that investing £40 million in a
huge new incinerator and locking the city into a 35 year contract based on incineration was a a massive mistake. But we have to make the best of the difficult position we now find ourselves in.

Having visited the new incinerator, I am aware that it is a vast
improvement on the old one: it is more energy efficient and far less polluting. But we should still be seeking ways to minimise the amount of waste sent to it and reducing, reusing and recycling our waste instead.

This follows a well established "waste hierarchy", where incineration is the next to last option. The waste hierarchy forms the core of the Sheffield Green Party's strategy for waste management. The most important part is reducing the amount of waste we produce in the first place. This really is a win-win policy since it saves greenhouse gases and saves the council money, as it will have less waste to deal with.

Sheffield Council has made a start in promoting home composting and reuseable nappies but it could be doing so much more. The council should be working with local groups like "free-cycle", which find new homes for unwanted items, and "Cot-age", which repairs and reuses items for children. It should be lobbying businesses to minimise waste and reduce packaging. It should be lobbying government to invest in a regional solution to recycling, not one that involves shipping waste to China. It should be positively encouraging more reduction, re-use, and repair across Sheffield. It should be placing incineration as an option of last resort, not the first choice.

Yours faithfully

Graham Wroe
Sheffield Green Party