Greens slam waste strategy

1st December2009

The Green Party has criticised the Council’s waste strategy in an
amendment to a motion to full Council this week. The Greens say that
the Lib Dems missed the opportunity to implement a Zero Waste Strategy
when they locked the city into a 30 year contract with Onyx (now
Veolia) to incinerate our waste.

Coun Jillian Creasy said,

"We’re glad to see that the new Waste Strategy responds to popular
demand for more kerbside recycling and begins to explore reduction and
reuse and better management of commercial waste. But due to the massive
capital investment in incineration, and the terms of the 2001 contract
with a profit-driven multi-national company, the Council will have to
find an additional £3.1m a year to fund it.

She added, "The amount to be spent on reduction, re-use and repair
projects is seventy times less than the amount to be spent on recycling.
The strategy hasn’t been used as an opportunity to kickstart anaerobic
digestion which turns food waste into vehicle fuel and fertilizer and
which would help meet renewable energy targets. And there is still no
firm information about how and where the recyclable materials will be
processed. How do we know that this will be done in South Yorkshire or
by local businesses?"

ENDS

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