ENVIRONMENT groups have rubbished a waste management consultation document sent to homes throughout Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

They say there is too much emphasis on incineration and not enough on minimising waste.

The document was marred by omissions, confusion and misleading claims, said Brian Jordan, of the Stop Kidderminster Incinerator campaign.

He accused the Herefordshire and Worcestershire councils of offering the public a list of seven pre-determined options with little or no detail.

"There is no documentation supporting their claims on emissions, pollution, transport distance or financial costs.

"Instead we are presented with a simplistic decision table covered in spots, pointing us towards their obvious preferred option (number five)," said Mr Jordan.

He said option five contained the largest element of "thermal treatment", but the public was expected to take it on trust that it was also one of the cheapest and least polluting.

Friends of the Earth groups across the two counties said the document was lacking in vision and fell far short of what could be done.

They welcomed the fact that more recycling was included in all the options, but said it was time the two councils moved on from a "burn it or bury it" mentality.

The public should reject the options for waste disposal offered in the document and demand full kerbside collection from all households for both recyclable and compostable materials, they said.

Any residual waste should be disposed of by a non-incineration option.

The county council's principal planner, Paul Maitland, said the document was a summary of a technical report produced by independent consultants.

Those who wanted more technical information could find this at libraries and on the councils' websites, as mentioned in the document.

"We had difficulty getting the message over in four pages, but we tried to find a happy medium," he said.

"The responses have been on both sides, with some people saying it is far too technical and they can't understand it and some saying thank you for a clear and informative leaflet."

He said the councils had been careful not to express a preference for any option and it was not true that they had made their minds up.

Some people were looking for the cheapest option, while others were most concerned about the environmental effects.

"We have referred to thermal treatment, not incineration, because there are new and emerging techniques that could be used instead," said Mr Maitland.

Further consultations with parish and district councils, other interested organisations, stakeholder meetings and a 2,000 person citizens' panel questionnaire would take place before council members made a decision on the best way forward, he said.

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