In the fourth day of a series on waste and recycling, environment correspondent JON ROBINSON looks at the part incinerators play in waste disposal and why predictions for future need are hard to make.

WASTE incineration continues to be a burning issue in Notts.

Bosses at the existing incinerator at Eastcroft, in Nottingham, were last year granted permission to expand it following a lengthy planning process which saw the city council, residents and campaigners battle change through a public inquiry.

Plans for a new facility in Rufford, Notts, will also go to a public inquiry later this year in the face of strong opposition from locals and conservation groups.

In both cases the idea of the incinerators is to divert waste away from landfill by burning it to recover energy.

But one of the main reasons opponents get fired up about them is that they aren't much more environmentally-friendly than landfill, the most damaging method to dispose of waste.

Nigel Lee, of Nottingham Friends of the Earth, was one of the objectors at the public inquiry.

"Reducing waste and reusing and recycling all comes before doing anything else," he said. "For anywhere that doesn't have an incinerator already, it is a big mistake to get one, because once you've got it, you need to feed it for the next 30 years. It is a big investment.

"We should be gradually reducing the amount we waste we treat as residual waste, so any purchasers for that type of waste should be getting smaller over the years.

"Reducing waste is something we all have a responsibility for. It includes not buying disposable things, repairing rather than throwing away [and] making use of things like Freecycle, so when you no longer need things that are still usable, you make them available to someone else."

The Eastcroft incinerator plans, by owners Waste Recycling Group (WRG), include opening a third incinerator line and increasing the amount of rubbish burned every year from 150,000 tonnes to 250,000 tonnes.

This alone would have halved the amount of waste sent to landfill in Nottingham and Notts combined for 2008/09, using the latest figures available from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The joint proposal for the new incinerator on the former Rufford Colliery site, made by Veolia Environmental Services and Notts County Council, would provide the ability to incinerate another 180,000 tonnes a year.

This, combined with the expansion at Eastcroft, would mean the incinerators in Notts capable of burning 430,000 tonnes of rubbish a year. That is more than the total amount of all waste collected in the Notts County Council area and enough for almost three-quarters of all waste from Notts and Nottingham combined based on 2008/09 levels.

However, we are currently recycling 40% of all our rubbish waste and campaigners claim this means there is bound to be spare capacity at one or both of the incinerators.

Shlomo Dowen, of People Against Incineration, will be presenting evidence at the public inquiry into the Rufford incinerator. He said: "Even allowing for some commercial waste 'arisings' to be incinerated, this is an exceptionally high level of incineration provision for which no special case has been established.

"Sufficient incineration capacity already exists... at Eastcroft. I have been told county council leader Kay Cutts has said that no waste will be brought in from outside the county, but in truth she has no power to make good her pledge."

Veolia spokesman Kevin Parker said the Rufford incinerator was necessary.

"There is a big obligation for local authorities to divert waste from landfill and it's their job to implement proven methods of dealing with municipal waste to deal with the current issue of waste," he said.

"We're looking forward to the public inquiry as it gives us another opportunity to show that we've chosen the best technology and the best location to help deliver Notts' waste solution."

WRG said it would have no problems using its capacity. Mike Snell, general manager of external affairs, said: "The lengthy public inquiry in 2008 into WRG's appeal against planning refusal addressed this very issue and concluded that there is more than enough waste arising in the vicinity of Eastcroft to satisfy the third line extension."

The debate is likely to continue into whether incinerators are the best choice. Predictions about waste levels are difficult, because of factors such as population changes, the effect the economy has on the amount people throw away and political interventions.

Tomorrow: find out how your council is performing on recycling.

jon.robinson@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk