Action Briefing Apr 2003 - May 2003
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

West Midlands News

Meanwhile, on the Hereford and Worcester's ‘Resource Management’ agenda. . .

Remember last year when Wyre Forest FoE and the people of Kidderminster defeated proposals for an incinerator in the town? Well, this has caused real problems for Herefordshire and Worcestershire as they look for a suitable site for an incinerator or two.

So it was no surprise that the consultation on their Best Practical Environment Option for waste was heavily biased toward "thermal treatment" (the new euphemism for incineration with energy recovery) and neglected recycling, composting municipal waste and waste minimisation.

With only four weeks to react, a rear guard action by campaigners and residents was initiated to raise the profile of the consultation much higher than the councils had ever intended. A meeting of the five local FoE groups was arranged, attracting activists from local CPRE and Greenpeace groups to boot. A plan of action was agreed and press releases and letters ensued.

“Don’t throw your chance away!” was the message to the Herefordshire Council and Worcestershire County Council from FoE local groups. They urged the public to reject the options for waste disposal offered in the consultation document and use the 'comment' space on the form to demand full kerbside collection from all households across the two counties, for both recyclable and compostable materials. Any residual waste which cannot be composted or recycled should be disposed of by a non-incineration option - in line with proposals agreed by MP’s in the House of Commons on 14th March 2003.

There are seven Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) options proposed for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, five of which include incineration. In all cases, it is planned to only recycle or compost waste which has been taken by householders to the council-run amenity sites or which has been collected by the two councils in their limited Kerbside collection schemes.

Chris Crean