Telford & Wrekin Council Watch - Telford's Waste; up In Smoke

Telford's Waste; up In Smoke

Tag it:

Written by johnfranklyn

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Telford’s Waste: up In Smoke?

Public Meeting

WEDNESDAY 19^th NOVEMBER

Tureff Hall

Tureff Avenue

Donnington

TF2 8HG

Doors open 7.15 pm for a 7.30 start

Speakers include:

Keith Kondakor, winner FOE Earthmover Award

TelfordPain (Protest Against Incinerator Now) http://www.nogranville.blogspot.com/

According to SITA (the company proposing the incinerator)

It will ‘assist’ in significantly reducing reliance on landfill and provide a sustainable local solution for dealing predominantly with Telford’s Waste.

Yet the recent Audit Commission report on waste advises around 70% of household waste is readily recyclable, but locally we only manage 36.5% in 2007/08. We can recycle and compost so much more – reducing residual waste to such small quantities an incinerator is unnecessary.

Figures From T&W Council show that over the last seven years, despite a growing population, waste sent to landfill has actually DECREASED – largely as a result of recycling and Composting.

The main fuels for the incinerator to produce ‘energy from waste’ are plastics, cardboard and paper – all of which are readily recyclable.

The waste produced by the incinerator potentially has to go to landfill – this typically occupies one fifth to a third by weight of the original waste.

In the original public consultation by Telford and Wrekin (around 3 years ago), the majority of the public responding were NOT in favour of incineration.

The proposed site of the incinerator – typically operating 24 hours a day – is close to Priorslee, Muxton and Donnington Wood Communities.

According to SITA ‘no breaches of air quality objectives are predicted’.

However, as the smallest particles emitted by the process are not monitored critics have health concerns over the unmonitored air emissions.

Above Information courtesy of Telford Friends of The Earth who must be commended for the sterling work they have done with regards raising the awareness of the proposed incinerator to a wide range of residents and local government representatives.

More recently Telford Pain http://www.nogranville.blogspot.com/ have also launched their action group who are also doing excellent work to raise the awareness of the proposed incinerator.

It is vital that as many residents from across the borough offer their support as SITA are being somewhat economical with the full information about incineration.

We must support this and be prepared to stop them should they decide to stop this, but continue in another location in the Borough.

So What Are the Health Risks and where do they come from

It is believed that the proposal for the new plant will filter airborne particles down to PM5 size, but the issue of health risks revolve around the smaller particles that are considerably smaller and are PM2.5.

What are the Health Risks from Particles of this size.

· increased total mortality;

· increased respiratory deaths;

· increased cardiovascular deaths;

· increased cancer deaths;

· increased risk of premature births and infant mortality;

· increased risk of pneumonia;

· increased risk of postneonatal mortality from respiratory disease and sudden infant death syndrome;

· increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits;

· increased hospital admissions, emergency room visits and surgery for respiratory and cardiovascular conditions;

· exacerbation of asthma attacks, increased bronchodilator use and increased hospital admissions due to asthma attacks;

· increased pneumonia, bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;

· increased respiratory symptoms in both the lower and upper respiratory tract;

· decreased lung function;

· increased incidences of rhinitis;

· increased absenteeism and increased number of days of restricted activity.

Comments

RSS

MartJ

|SAdministrator |2008-11-14 11:34:37

Yes it is close to Priorslee, Donnington Wood and Muxton, but you have missed the one area sandwiched between them all St Georges. And with any prevailing winds from SW aren't Newport also affected

johnfranklyn

|SAdministrator |2008-11-21 20:47:28

The problem is wider than many realise, but unfortunately, we are not allowed to disagree with the incinerator on health grounds, we are only allowed to disagree with on building grounds.

Quite a convenient issue to be left out I feel.

Only registered users can write comments!

Telford Council Watch

3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."