17 February 2007 - Norfolk County Council is set to approve a bid for the treatment of our county's residual waste that does not involve burning. The relevant County Council Committee has recommended to the Cabinet that WRG, the company that has been proposing to build an incinerator at Costessey and more recently Trowse, should not be the preferred bidder. Furthermore, the likely new preferred bidder, SRM, has confirmed that it will not include any burning as part of its mechanical biological treatment process.
Mancroft ward Green Party Candidate Tom Dylan said: "There has been a high level of public concern about the prospect of an incinerator being built locally. At the recent public meeting in Costessey, experts outlined strong evidence of links between incinerators and high concentrations of health problems amongst people living in nearby areas. The Green Party is pleased that there is no burning involved in the likely new preferred bid. However, we are concerned that WRG is likely to still be the reserve bidder.
"Last month's City Council meeting adopted a Green Party motion calling on the County Council to rule out incineration for this and future contracts. We proposed a similar motion a year ago and that was not supported by any other party – but we are pleased that our motion got through this time. The successful motion also called for the development of a resource recovery park in Norwich. These centres exist in other parts of the world and achieve reuse and recycling levels of up to 90 per cent. We are also pushing for improved and comprehensive local recycling facilities to be a high priority in the City Council's budget for the next financial year, which is to be considered this month."