The waste company Viridor has applied to Devon County Council to build an incinerator and landfill at New England Quarry near Lee Mill and Ivybridge. We need to act now to prevent this major threat to our lives and wellbeing. I'm writing to ask you to object and to ask your colleagues and friends to object too. Here's how it will affect you: Viridor call their scheme a 'Resource Recovery Centre' and claim it will quietly and effortlessly get rid of our waste - some 275,000 tonnes of the stuff per year per year. It will solve our waste problem and even have an educational centre where our kids can go and learn about waste. This sounds great until you realise that Viridor's 'Resource Recovery Centre' is misleading and it is an incinerator that will belch out harmful toxins and thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Incineration is yesterday's solution to waste - it squanders resources, impacts hugely on health and the environment and makes zero contribution to community growth.
More details:
It will impact on your health
There is no such thing as safe incineration. It produces a whole spectrum of pollutants such as dioxins, lead, cadmium and arsenic that persist in the environment and then gets into the food chain.
It will impact on your wallet - hundreds of millions of ££££s
This incinerator would tie Devon tax-payers into a 25-year contract to burn waste. Independent experts believe the financial planning is based on a flawed, out-of-date economic picture conceived well before the current recession. If there is insufficient waste to fill the incinerator, tax payers could be penalised.
It will impact on recycling rates
The South Hams has one of the highest recycling rates in the country. The incinerator needs to be fed with rubbish 24 hours a day and will reduce the current level of recycling in order to justify its cost.
It will impact on money in the community
Viridor will make enormous profits over the 25-year life-span of the incinerator and the money will go elsewhere. If we set up community recycling profits, the money stays here.
It will impact on the creation of true green jobs
Dealing with waste could create hundreds of jobs. 'Proper Job' - an innovative community recycling and re-use centre at Chagford is working. If this were replicated across Devon, hundreds of community-friendly jobs could be created.
It will impact on climate change The incinerator will pour out 17 tonnes of CO2 every hour for 25 years. That's over a massive 3,500,000 tonnes throughout its lifetime.
It will impact on the landscape It will be an eyesore in an area of outstanding natural beauty.
It will impact on the River Yealm The incinerator is located close to the River Yealm. Flood water could wash deadly toxins into the river, and leaching from the landfill could threaten its internationally protected estuary and fragile shell-fish industry.
It will impact on resources and recovery Four times as much energy is saved by recycling and composting than by burning. For example - 26 times more energy is saved by recycling plastic than burning it.
It will impact on landfill For every four tonnes of waste burnt you get one tonne of toxic ash much of which has to be land-filled - 12,000 tonnes of it are so toxic it has to be taken as far as Gloucester to be disposed of.
It will impact on the traffic An accident waiting to happen. Hundreds of HUGE waste lorries will drive up and down the A38 carrying rubbish.
It will impact on further wasted resources The incinerator produces huge amounts of heat - but there are no homes close enough to use the heat - so all this will be wasted.
It will impact on alternative solutions There are really exciting new projects in Devon to fight waste, ranging from community composting, recycling and re-use to anaerobic digestion. The incinerator will undermine all of these.
But you can impact on Viridor and
Devon County Council You can make a difference. By writing or emailing an objection and passing this email on to 5 or more people whom you know will be concerned, it will strengthen our opposition. Every objection helps - You don't have to live in Devon to do this.
When sending an objection, please don't copy this word for word. One point is enough but more is even better. Couples can object seperately.
Emotional or angry letters will be discounted.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Objections have to be in by April 19th 2010 by post or email to : Mrs S Penaluna, Planning Officer, Devon County Council, ABG Lucombe house, County Hall, Exeter EX2 4QW.
Email address: newengland_efw@devon.gov.uk.
Remember to include your full name and address for your objection
to count.
.If you have any questions please contact Stephen Mosbacher on 01803 862123.
Or visit http://www.ecoivy.org (there is a link to a short film on incinerators)
