SIR – I refer to recent Worcester News stories about the costs to taxpayers of landfill and the so-called case for incineration.

It seems to me that we only got half the story, and I was deeply disappointed to find the Worcester News editorial coming to the conclusion that incineration was the way forward, as did Robin Walker MP (Worcester News, March 25).

I think a few facts need highlighting: The cost to local taxpayers of landfill is purely down to Worcestershire County Council’s own poorly negotiated contract with Mercia Waste, and failing to understand or get a grip of the problem of falling waste levels allied with the need to recycle more.

The council is locked into a waste contract dating back to 1998, which they could have terminated after 10 years but did not.

I believe that even now a combination of increased recycling and food waste processing will mean the council would be able to keep within existing budgets, or even save money by 2023.

PFI projects are expensive, and incineration could cost us up to £1 billion over its lifetime.

Far in excess of the council’s projected and hopeful figure of £6 million a year ‘extra’ that will need to be found on top of existing budgets, and remember they will still need to landfill.

It will also incur extra statutory costs for burning recyclable waste, meaning the cost per tonne we pay will go up not down, so there will be no chance of saving any money if that is what the council naively believes.

The incinerator option realises yet more benefits to the contractor in the form of a massive balloon payment when the current contract runs out in 2023.

The fact is the council has got its maths all wrong thanks to blinkered thinking and the true cost of this facility needs to be exposed before this greatest of financial follies is inflicted upon the hard-pressed taxpayers of Worcestershire.

STEPHEN BROWN

Wyre Forest Green Party