Inside the tipping hall at SELCHP incinerator
Liberal Democrats on Lewisham Council said today that they, "fully support" our occupation of the SELCHP plant, and all our attempts to highlight the dangers of incineration.
"We do not believe that incineration is the way forward for sorting out the UK's waste problem, and we believe that the Government's strategy for increasing the number of incinerators is fundamentally flawed," said Councillor Cathy Priddey, Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson for Lewisham Council.
"Far more resources need to be put into waste reduction and recycling schemes. Lewisham's recycling rate is appallingly low when compared to that of other councils and the Council has shown no real determination to improve this.
"Incineration is not only a potential danger to the health of local communities, but it acts as a disincentive to improve recycling rates. Lewisham Council is making token gestures with recycling "pilot schemes" when they could be implementing schemes across the borough that others have already proved to work. And, in the meantime, the amount of waste produced per household in Lewisham is growing faster and faster.
"I hope that the action taken by Greenpeace acts as a wake up call to the Government that incineration only changes the nature of the waste problem but does nothing to solve it," added Councillor Priddey.
