Shrewsbury incinerator 'would need waste shipped in'

THOUSANDS OF tonnes of waste would have to be shipped in to Shrewsbury from the West Midlands to ensure a planned £60 million incinerator was operating at full capacity, an inquiry today heard.

Councillor Mansel Williams said Shropshire households alone did not produce enough waste to justify the creation of Veolia's proposed burner at Battlefield Enterprise Park.

He said that he had run models that showed for the facility to operate efficiently, rubbish would have to be transported into Shropshire from surrounding areas.

He said that under his 'worst case scenario' model, where the amount of waste being created in the county remained at current levels until 2019/20 and recycling levels did not go above 70 per cent, there would be a waste shortfall of 43,776 tonnes for the incinerator, which is designed to process 90,000 tonnes of rubbish each year.

His claims were made during the third week of a planning appeal launched by Veolia following Shropshire Council's decision to reject the scheme last year.

Councillor Williams said that by his calculations, lorries transporting waste to the county would have to make about 1,750 trips to Shrewsbury each year – damaging the town's already poor levels of air quality.

"We are going to have to bring in waste from elsewhere to make up the shortfall as we are well short of what is required," he said.

"People bringing in that level of waste and with the emissions from the various wagons coming in and the amount of movement it is going to require, it is going to be fairly catastrophic. That may seem an exaggeration, but I do want to exaggerate to make a point.

"From the point of view of residents and the people I represent, it is quite unacceptable."

But a note of caution about the figures was given by Rhodri Price Lewis, the lawyer representing Veolia.

He said that Councillor Williams's models did not take into account the waste created by Shropshire businesses, as well as council plans to create thousands of new homes in Shrewsbury by 2026.

Veolia says the facility could generate enough power to supply 10,000 homes.

Mr Williams said he would create a new model.

By Chris Burn