Green Party campaigners suffer set back in battle against Highland incinerator plan
Efforts by environmentalists to come up with greener alternatives to waste incineration have failed to impress Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson.
Green Party campaigners concerned over the possibility of a mass waste burning site at the Longman Industrial Estate are suggesting that the council instead installs several anaerobic digestion plants around the Highlands where rubbish is broken down and converted into energy.
But Councillor Davidson said the local authority’s waste experts had already explored the possibility of using the digesters and doubts had been cast about their suitability.
She added that many of the other ideas put forward by the Greens were not “instant solutions”.
”I invited them in because I wanted to hear their alternatives,” she said. “They gave me virtually nothing on the day but they have returned to me since with some suggestions and I will ask the council officers to research – but many of those suggestions are not instant solutions.”
Citing examples, Councillor Davidson said the group’s proposal to force supermarkets to be more responsible for their waste was not something that could happen overnight and would probably need to be enshrined in law.
She said their proposal to set up anaerobic digestion plants had been ruled out but she would discuss it again with council officers.
The suggestion of setting up community composting sites in rural areas meanwhile would need to be vigorously scrutinised for costs.
“If recycling was the answer then we would all be doing it,” she said. “We must have plans in place to have no biodegradable waste going to landfill by 2021 and anything we do needs to be in that context. Time is rapidly running out.”
Greens in Highland are concerned because the council’s Inner Moray Firth Local Development Plan, which sets out a vision for how the region should develop, makes provision for an “energy-from-waste facility” at the Longman Industrial Estate.
The group is still reeling after the Scottish Government refused to have this contentious line removed from the plan.
The say it opens the door to anyone who wants to build an incinerator on the city site.
No developer has yet expressed an interest in developing the site for waste incineration or otherwise.
Anne Thomas, issues campaigns co-ordinator for the Highlands and Islands Green Party, said members were determined to find an alternative.
She said: “Clearly other areas have been putting in anaerobic digestion plants quite easily so I think the costs at the moment are looking pretty good because you often qualify for subsidies.”
She added: “The Local Plan says energy from waste at the Longman but it does not go into any more detail. I did quite a bit of digging because energy from waste could mean anaerobic digesters, which we are fine with. Or it could mean an incinerator but it doesn’t specify so that’s our concern. It did look like the council was thinking about incineration and Margaret really confirmed that when we spoke to her.”
