Eleven Greenpeace volunteers who are occupying Sheffield waste incinerator have refused to comply with a possession order from Sheffield City Council. The volunteers are arguing that the occupation is lawful and intended to prevent further breaches of pollution law. The Sheffield incinerator is the worst in England and has broken legal pollution limits 178 times in the past three years. One team, who are occupying the plant's 75-metre chimney, have just completed painting TOXIC CRIME in giant letters down the side of the smoke stack.
Five volunteers are camped on the incinerator chimney and another seven have spent the night chained to the rubbish grabbing claws and conveyor belts that feed the furnace. Greenpeace have pledged to keep the incinerator shut until Sheffield City Council agree to shut it permanently.
Blake Lee-Harwood, Head of the Toxics Campaign at Greenpeace, said:
"We don't believe that what we are doing is unlawful. We are preventing a toxic crime against the people of Sheffield and effectively performing a citizen's arrest. We are determined to protect the people, environment and property of Sheffield.
We don't dispute that Sheffield City Council legally own this polluting plant. What we challenge is their right to discharge hundreds of tonnes of toxic chemicals over this city. People are paying to have their rubbish collected from outside their doors and it comes back through their windows as poisonous gases."
Sheffield City Council claim that the occupation is costing the city £0,000 per day but the figure is disputed by Greenpeace. Commenting on Sheffield City Council's financial claim, Blake Lee-Harwood said:
"Sheffield City Council claim that our occupation will cost £0,000 per day but it was the council that wasted £5 million on trying to upgrade an incinerator which has never worked properly. The people of Sheffield will continue to pay with their health if this incinerator is allowed to continue operating."
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Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255
