Outlining the council's new waste strategy plans, Leader of the Council Dr Andrew Povey said: "I am very pleased to announce that we are scrapping plans for any EfW incinerators in Surrey. Today I will be instructing that the planning applications for incinerators at Capel and Trumps Farm be withdrawn.
"With our help, and that of our partners, our residents are now doing so well at producing less waste and recycling more that we are in a position to look at alternative methods of dealing with our waste and saving both money and our countryside.
"The way to achieve this is by diverting waste from landfill. The practice is not only destructive to our landscape and environment but the taxation on landfill alone currently costs us over £7 million per year. This tax is increasing at an alarming rate and will have almost doubled by 2013. If we don't act now the Surrey taxpayer could be paying as much as £13m annually in landfill tax alone within four years, so our goal is to avoid putting any waste in landfill by then."
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The council's new approach to waste will concentrate on reducing the amount of waste Surrey produces, encouraging people to reuse things where they can and recycle as much as possible after that. The new plans will lead to a reduction in the amount of household waste dealt with every year by 35,000 tonnes, enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall 14 times. As a result the county will be making substantial savings in waste disposal costs by 2013. Minimising waste alone will result in estimated savings of £3.5 million per year in disposal costs.
Cabinet Member for the Environment Lynne Hack said: "A key element of the county council's new waste vision is an Eco Park, which would be the first of its kind in the country. It would incorporate a range of waste treatment facilities, an innovation centre to look at and develop the latest technologies and an education centre open to all.
"The proposed location is the existing waste management facility at Charlton Lane, Shepperton, which has been in waste management use for many years. The buildings would be designed sympathetically to fit in with the surrounding area and would look much more attractive than the existing development. There would be a reduction in traffic compared with the existing operation.
"The Eco Park would include an anaerobic digester and a gasifier, which would be half the size of the EfW plants originally envisaged for Capel and Trumps Farm."
The new Eco Park plans would cost £50m, significantly less than the £200m it would have cost to build two EfW incinerators.
(CD/BMcC)
