Incineration 'Looks favoured option' for Hatfield
HERTFORDSHIRE county council has emphasised its commitment to recycling – despite the appointment of an incineration specialist to give advice on plans to build a waste burning facility in Hatfield. According to an industry insider, known only as
HERTFORDSHIRE county council has emphasised its commitment to recycling - despite the appointment of an incineration specialist to give advice on plans to build a waste burning facility in Hatfield.
According to an industry insider, known only as Recycling Boy, the council has chosen a company called Ramboll as its technical adviser.
The council insists it will not take a final decision on the location of the incinerator - earmarked for its New Barnfield site in Travellers Lane - until spring 2010.
But in an email to Mike Hobday, the chairman of campaign group Action Hatfield, Recycling Boy said: "Ramboll have considerable experience in incineration - and very little else!
"As their site explains, they have been involved in over 40 incineration projects (to date)."
He added: "This completely dispels the notion that the council is technology neutral in their choice of technical advisor."
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Speaking to the WHT, Mr Hobday said: "Time and again, Conservative councillors claim that they have not yet decided to impose a waste incinerator on Hatfield.
"Yet the emerging evidence suggests relentlessly that this is what is going to happen.
"It's clear that local residents do not want a waste incinerator.
"The Action Hatfield public meeting in South Hatfield in June voted 73-0 against an incinerator and last week's Welwyn Hatfield Environment Network meeting did not see a single local resident supporting the County Council."
He added: "The county council must now change their mind, and accept that waste should be recycled, not burnt."
A council spokeswoman said: "Ramboll is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy with experience in many areas of waste management, including energy from waste and the provision of combined heat and power.
"As an example of their experience, Ramboll is also currently working with the North London Waste Authority on a project very similar to ours, whose reference technology is mechanical and biological treatment.
"We would like to emphasise once again that the county council, along with our district council partners, remains firmly committed to recycling.
"We take as much recyclable material out of the waste stream as possible and will continue to do so in the future, but we still have to find a way to deal with the residue.
