SUFFOLK: The fight goes on!

That was the defiant message today as it emerged that the county is considering building TWO huge incinerators to get rid of its waste.

The call came as it emerged residents in Great Blakenham had been hit with the bombshell of a proposed second depot on their doorsteps.

Furious Liberal Democrat Andrew Cann blasted the proposal – claiming that the incinerators would not be necessary if the county stuck to its original recycling target.

And he urged the council to look again at alternative waste disposal methods – including anerobic digestion in which microbes “eat” waste which cannot be recycled.

A public examination of the county’s waste strategy began in Ipswich today as the county council admitted that an incinerator proposed for Great Blakenham would cope with less than half Suffolk’s residual waste in the future.

Another three sites – including another in Great Blakenham – are also up for consideration for waste treatment plants, although the county insists incineration is not the only option on the agenda.

Other sites under consideration for a waste treatment plant are at the old sugar beet factory at Sproughton, Eye airfield and the Mason’s landfill site at Great Blakenham – opposite the already-planned incinerator.

The county is expected to produce about 600,000 tonnes of residual waste a year. The incinerator at Great Blakenham will be able to handle between 250,000 and 270,000 tonnes a year.

A further 100,000 will be able to be disposed of privately – leaving about 250,000 tonnes that needs to be treated or burned.

Councillor with responsibility for planning Guy McGregor said: “There is the landfill tax to be considered and the fact is we do not have the space to fill up more holes with rubbish.”

But Mr Cann said: “The real problem is that Suffolk has relaxed its target for recycling from 60 per cent of waste to 50pc – it should be putting up the recycling target not bringing it down.”

A public examination of the county’s waste strategy gets under way today in the IP-City Centre in Ipswich and is due to last ten days.

n How should Suffolk get rid of waste? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN.