Waste management company SITA UK and technology firm Cyclerval UK have applied to build a multi-million pound “energy from waste” plant at Granville tip, approximately two miles from the town centre.

If Telford and Wrekin Borough Council allows the application, the incinerator will annually process 62,000 tonnes of waste by burning household rubbish. The energy produced would be converted into electricity and heat and sold to local businesses, creating a sustainable resource from material that would otherwise be buried in landfill sites.

However, concerned residents who fear their health could be blighted by potentially hazardous fallout, have formed a protest lobby to fight the plans. Telford PAIN (People Against Incinerator) was launched by locals, but the group claims that the effects of the discharge would be felt over a much wider area, with the Bridgnorth district seen as particularly vulnerable.

“We estimate that there will be a plume of particulate-bearing emissions with a footprint of 15 to 20 miles,” said
PAIN member Steve Pessall. “Although the operators state that the discharge is perfectly safe, we remain unconvinced.
The plant is capable of removing larger particles of harmful material from the exhaust gases, but the smaller ones will be pumped into the atmosphere.”

Incinerating household waste produces a cocktail of lethal substances. According to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology the “...main pollutants of concern are dioxins, acid gases, nitrogen oxides, heavy metals and particulates.” (Post Note 149 dated December 2000)

It must be assumed that technology has moved on since then, but the same document states: “... it is the presence
of pollutants in the gases emitted from MSWI chimneys that attracts most concern, and in particular, the presence of dioxins because they are suspected of causing cancer and are widely distributed throughout the food chain.”

Protest groups fighting plans for a new waste incinerator in Telford claim that Bridgnorth residents could have their lives put at risk if the scheme goes ahead.

“No-one knows what goes into household waste – the plant could be burning anything,” Steve Pessall said.
“Another concern is that if SITA gets the go-ahead it will start importing commercial waste to keep the furnaces
running 24 hours a day. We believe that this will add to the health problems that will inevitably be caused through the
presence of this facility.”

The Shropshire Review contacted SITA and offered them an opportunity to respond to the concerns expressed
by PAIN. However, after promising to answer our questions, the company eventually declined to comment.

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, who has lodged his own protest against the plan and has set up a petition against the
incinerator, accused SITA of “being ashamed of their own project” by not attending public consultation meetings
arranged by him.

“SITA UK appears to be shying away from any real and robust public scrutiny, which local people are rightly very
suspicious about,” Mark Pritchard said. Although SITA refused to reply, its website (www.granville-efw.co.uk) has
a section offering answers to ‘frequently asked questions.’

The website also states that the plant would be ‘perfectly safe’ with emissions “strictly monitored and controlled by an
independent party.”

“SITA’s presentation sounds good, but we have done lots of research and there are massive contradictions here,” Steve
Pessall said. “There have been plenty of studies into the harmful effects of minute particles on human health. Anyone who
thinks incinerators are safe should see Professor Paul Connett’s findings on www.cank.org.uk/connett1.html”
Greenpeace, who might have been seen as natural champions of a system which produces energy from waste, is
strongly opposed to EfW incinerators.

SITA's presentation sounds good, but we have done lots of research and there are massive contradictions here

“Health effects from fine particles are thought to range from premature deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases to exacerbation of mild and severe asthma attacks in children and adults,” a statement from the organisation said.
“ I can’t over-emphasise the danger that this plant represents to the whole district,” Shifnal councillor Gordon Tonkinson told the Shropshire Review. “As a farmer, I’m concerned at the prospect of dangerous chemicals falling upon pasture, getting into the food chain, contaminating milk and meat – look at what’s just happened to Irish pork due to dioxins in the pig feed. It’s a fact that these incinerators represent a very serious threat to health, particularly for children and pregnant women, and local authorities should be looking at safer alternatives such as more efficient recycling and plasma gasification of unusable waste. Telford has a terrible record for recycling – one of the worst in the country – and the council needs to realise that incineration is not an environmentally efficient solution.”

Councillor Tonkinson went on to state that incinerators of the type proposed for Telford were being phased out in America, Ireland and elsewhere. He also said that the residual ash from the plant would amount to around 30% of the total burn, and be so potentially toxic that it would have to be transported to special disposal sites elsewhere in the country. He claimed that the independent monitoring safeguards could easily be bypassed, as inspectors gave plant operators prior
warning of their visits.

Countrywide, there is massive resistance to EfW incinerators from groups and individuals such as Dr.David Bellamy, CPRE and Friends of the Earth. Steve Pessall said that the group was campaigning to raise public awareness of the threat that the incinerator posed for a massive proportion of the county’s population.

“This isn’t a Telford-centred NIMBY protest. People in Shifnal, Bridgnorth and all over the district face a serious
threat to their health,” he said. “I urge everyone to get involved and lobby the decision-makers on the council, asking them to refuse the application on planning grounds. Our website www.telfordpain has contact details, sample letters and other important information.Remember that once this plant is commissioned it will be running nonstop for 25 to 30 years and commercial waste will have to be shipped in to keep it fed. We believe that the outcome of this application will literally be a matter of life or death."

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