08:13 Tuesday 31st January 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
RICHARD OLIVE FRIENDS OF THE EARTH: .. listeners who live in Cambridgeshire and Fenland who are aware of what happens to their waste, which goes to an MBT anaerobic digester in Waterbeach. The running costs of that are less than half, actually about 42% of the cost of the Peterborough one. And the construction costs were £30 million. And it’s a much better environmental solution. You would think Peterborough, aiming to be the UK’s Environment Capital, would have gone for the best possible environmental solution. But even the MBT anaerobic digester in Waterbeach isn’t the best. Peterborough could quite easily recycle 78% of its waste.
One other thing you need to be aware of, and I think the people of Peterborough need to be aware of, is that the Council took advice in terms of how to treat their waste, way back in 2006. We had a meeting with them. And their waste adviser was the gentleman who gave his services totally free to the Council. I’ll name him. He was a Mr.Ian Crummack. And he happened to be the manager of the Cyclerval incinerator in Grimsby. So he may have actually persuaded the Council perhaps to go down the incineration route. .. Sol I think the Council have been led in a particular direction.
The best solution, put a lot more money into recycling. As I said, it’s quite easy to up the recycling rate to 78%. The Council is proposing 65% plus. .. The rest of the waste, some of it could actually still be landfilled if necessary. But I think the best solution really would be to build a small plasma enhanced melter .. to process the remaining stuff and turn it into something useful.