Burning IssueFalkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie has called for action to ensure that incinerators must pass stringent environmental tests, and that they will not be built where there is local opposition. Speaking in parliament in response to a Ministerial statement backing the use of incineration, she challenged the SNP's Richard Lochhead, arguing that "the danger of building incinerators and recovery plants that use refuse derived fuel is that they create demand for rather than discourage residual waste? "Will he assure me that such schemes will not go ahead unless they contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions; that safeguards will be put in place to ensure that the focus remains on recycling and minimising RDF production; and, most important, that no scheme will be permitted without proper consultation with and support from stakeholders and communities, so that schemes do not arrive in folks' backyards without their being involved?" The minister said that incinerators would have to be highly efficient, quoting a suggested 60% target, and that there would be local consultation. "He did not really address the points I was making," said Cathy. "Efficiency is not the same thing as ensuring that incineration contributes less to global warming than alternative methods of waste disposal and energy generation, and certainly it is inferior to waste reduction and improving energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption. "And local consultation is not the same thing as refusing any scheme that does not have support from local people." "The irony is that before the election the SNP peddled scare stories about incinerators being built in my constituents’ backyards, bringing back bad memories of Rechem. The truth was that the only people thinking about building an incinerator were the SNP led council, as part of their waste plan submitted to the Scottish Executive. Now the minority SNP government is backing incineration. "I was never a supporter of any plan for an incinerator, and I remain to be convinced." (January 2008) |
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