Alternative to an incinerator

Pic from ad for Italian film re incinerators

Even despite calls by both Cheltenham Borough and Stroud District Council to think again on an incinerator the County is steaming ahead. Urbaser Balfour Beatty, a consortium of two firms, has won the £500m deal for the controversial rubbish burning facility at Haresfield. A planning application is going in and campaigners are still hopeful the whole process can be stopped and some sanity restored. There is also a legal challenge by Lib Dems to call in the decision - see here the campaigners Christmas video sent to all councillors.

Now I've written before on this blog about some of the alternatives to incinerators - and indeed there are new developments all the time - which makes it all the more crazy to tie us into a 25 year contract. Anyhow one idea was presented to Gloucestershire County Council last year - waste to ethanol - now I'm no expert in this area but it has many aspects that are interesting. You can see an interesting short video made a while ago on the Kent County Council website at: http://digital.kent.gov.uk/3038  There is also info to download at:  http://jayarec.juneayasol.com/ENERGY-FROM-WASTE.pdf

Here's a comment from someone who lives locally re this approach: "Incinerators are already being replaced in different parts of the world by waste to ethanol plants, and will have become obsolete by 2015 when this planned incinerator is due to start operating."

Oh how sad - but as noted there is still a chance this incinerator can be stopped.