Andy D'Agorne

At the last full council meeting before the elections this week, the Greens proposed a motion calling for an explicit commitment to exclude 'Energy from Waste' - incineration - from any future waste plan for the City of York. The Liberal Democrats at least had the decency, or more likely political nouse not to use the  'refer to executive without debate' mechanism but to put their own amendment to water it down to simply state the 'preferred treatment option of mechanical and biological treatment'. What was a surprise was seeing that denizen of open government and critic of the new constitution Cllr Dave Merrett standing up on the Labour benches to propose that the proposal be referred to the Executive for an officer report. This is in spite of the fact that just such an 'officer report' updating the Executive on the latest situation with the Waste PFI bid was considered by the Executive on Mar 27th (and, as would normally be the case, by the Shadow Executive the week before!) There was a little confusion on the top table - something unscripted happening that the whips had not had the opportunity to plan for- but then the proposal to refer was defeated. It was then the turn of at least one Labour councillor to have to whisper to their Leader to check how they should vote before they abstained, on both the amendment and the amended motion, so we still dont know what 'Local Labour' as opposed to Tony Blair's Labour think to the idea. Meanwhile the Lib Dems entertained themselves by referring to a quote from a Sheffield Green councillor supposedly 'supporting incineration' - she had of course been mis-quoted and lampooned by the Sheffield Lib Dems who actually signed the £35m contract for the new incinerator in Sheffield that was built to replace the more polluting existing one closed in the late 1990's as uneconomic to bring up to stricter EU emission standards. Sheffield extracts some recyclates at the plant (steel, glass etc) but only offers a monthly 'blue bin' collection of paper and card for householders.   If you want to read more about local opposition to incineration, see other entries in this section or visit www.no-burner.co.uk

Wording of our motion

"This council confirms its opposition to any form of incineration of York's municipal waste. Key concerns include:

1. The effect of emissions on human health and the environment;

2. The fact that incineration contracts with private companies create a demand for waste

This detracts from the objective to reduce the amount of waste that is produced, and the secondary objective to recycle as large a proportion of the remainder as is possible and efficient in terms of environmental impact.

The council also opposes any other form of treatment involving burning (such as forms of mechanical biological treatment that produce refuse derived fuel for burning), as the concerns expressed above apply in each case.

This council notes the significant achievements of the city in increasing recycling, through the work of the council and community groups such as the Friends of St. Nicholas Fields and the York Recycling Network. The council will support the work of such groups wherever possible.

The council notes that measures on waste reduction are almost always more financially efficient than the construction of large treatment facilities, and that recycling creates more jobs than incineration.

The council further notes that as recycling rates increase around the country, incineration is falling further out of favour. Norwich City Council has recently confirmed its opposition to incineration, joining the councils of Essex, Lancashire, Bath and Milton Keynes, among others. Furthermore, this council calls upon the Government to introduce legislation to reduce waste at source by strict regulation and taxes on packaging."