Green Councillor Andrew Baldrey (Caol and Mallaig) today said “I am delighted that Highland Council has finally abandoned its proposal to build a waste incinerator in Inverness. This marks the end of at least 15 years of campaigning against the incinerator by the Highlands and Islands Greens.
“Waste incinerators are simply landfill in the sky. Incinerators pollute, often with toxic residual chemicals, create toxic ash, and are the most expensive solution. They take finance and focus away from the priorities of recycling and reuse.
“There will still be residual waste which will need to be dealt with. But an incinerator here in the Highlands would create a need for a supply of material for burning when we should be focussing on maximising the amount of material reclaimed.”
Cllr Baldrey was speaking following a meeting of the Waste Strategy Working Group of Communities and Place committee on 8th November, which approved a report by officers not to proceed with plans for an incinerator.
“It’s unfortunate that so much money has been wasted on exploring this option, given that the Scottish Government has already intimated that it is very unlikely there would be either funding or permission for such a facility in the Highlands.”
“The BBC recently reported that with the closure of the last UK coal power plant using waste to generate electricity is now the most polluting way to do it. We need to move to a circular economy which re-uses resources and generate power through clean, cheap renewables instead”.