From Chris Whitworth.
HAVING attended the public incinerator meeting at the Town Hall, I am even more convinced that such a costly solution for our waste management is unnecessary.

I was also appalled that the Medical Officer of Health, Dr Rosemary Geller, has sent a co-written letter to all States Members stating that the new energy-from-waste plant will have a net positive effect on health in Jersey.

Whether or not all of what Dr Dick Van Steenis had to say was correct, he did highlight the fact that to site this plant in the most densely populated part of the Island was totally irresponsible. It also now appears that incinerators may soon be outlawed in Europe as a means of waste disposal, due to the toxic fly ash that has to be dumped after incineration.

So with no further expansion of the La Collette reclamation site allowed (except for harbours for cruise ships), what is to be done with the toxic fly and bottom ash?

Bearing in mind that these by-products, which cannot be mixed together, have no other use than to pollute the land they are concealed beneath, which parish has been chosen to take the waste? I shall write to the Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, and raise parishioners’ support for the prevention of such harmful waste from being sited in St Helier.

As for the proposed £100 million incinerator plant, we were informed that it would be even higher than the Mount Bingham cliff face and would need another £35 million spent on adjusting the road lay-out from Commercial Buildings and would also require the relining of the power station chimney.

Also, due to this sharing of the chimney a 150-metre flue pipe will need to be constructed with additional pumps and fans to force the naturally rising exhaust gases to the neighbouring chimney.

Once again we are not being told the true cost involved with yet another extraordinary States decision. One really has to wonder on what basis some of our States Members make their decisions.

If recycling is to be taken seriously, this type of plant will have nothing apart from expensive oil to burn our rubbish. One has to wonder what benefits incineration has when steam treatment and gasification and plasma plants are less expensive to purchase and operate and produce no end-of-line toxic substances.

Let’s hope it is not too late to overturn this decision before Jersey is the proud owner of an oversized, overpriced carbuncle that is about to be outlawed in mainland Europe.
Evanston,
Green Street,
St Helier.