11th April 2007

Town Hall
S1 2HH

Tel: (0114) 272 7886

Dear Sir,

I wish to clear up any misunderstanding following recent letters, articles and the Star opinion (Paler shade of Green in the city? 10th April).

The Green position on waste is that we should produce less of it. This is known as the “4Rs” – Reduce, Re-use, Repair and Recycle. We need to tackle the way goods are made to be thrown away and everything is over-packaged. To do so will need action at national, council and individual level, but it will save more money, precious resources and carbon emissions than recycling or “energy from waste.” The full waste strategy is on our website.

The Green party called for the old Bernard Road incinerator to be closed and opposed the building of a giant new incinerator. We always said, and still believe, that a “zero waste” policy would have made it unnecessary. But in 2001 the Lib Dems signed a multi-million, 30 year, contract with a private waste company, and Labour duly gave the incinerator planning permission. We cannot undo this costly mistake, we have to make the best of it. We do welcome the fact that the new incinerator is safer and more efficient than the old one. It is more environmentally friendly than landfill and we would save carbon emissions by diverting waste, which is currently landfilled, to the incinerator.

On recycling, no group has worked harder than the Greens to get recycling facilities into local communities including shopping parades, the basements of city-living apartments and council estates. Ideally we would like to see more doorstep recycling. But, unlike the Lib Dems, we believe this should be paid for out of the existing waste budget, not from council tax, which could be used for other things. Some elements of waste – certain plastics, textiles, aluminium and ferrous metals, paper, card and glass are valuable enough to “pay for themselves” to be recycled. Garden and most kitchen waste should be composted on site or very locally. The vast majority of Sheffield people understand these complex issues and would willingly cooperate with a council which gave them the opportunity to do the 4Rs.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Jillian Creasy
Sheffield Green Party