Middlewich residents will naturally be delighted to read that their efforts, and those of the rest of Cheshire East, have resulted in the amount of waste being sent to landfill plummeting. Latest figures show that the amount of waste sent to landfill in Cheshire East last year dropped by 1,000 tonnes giving the Council a saving of over £100,000.

DEFRA figures also showed that the Council has the highest recycling rate of any Unitary Authority in the North West with 49% of all household waste being recycled from November 2010 to November 2011.

Add to this the new silver bin scheme being introduced in 2012 and we could see rates in excess of 60% recycling being achieved in Middlewich by the end of 2012.

Contrast this however with the reality of living in Middlewich where there is a newly agreed landfill site on the outskirts of town, and an incinerator plant planned for the same area. It does rather beg the question, what do residents have to do to avoid having other people’s rubbish dumped on their doorstep?

News is emerging that Lanarkshire Council in Scotland have awarded their long term 25 year waste contract to Viridor but it is based on them being able to build the controversial Dovesdale Farm incinerator.  The plan is currently under judicial review and is not going to be decided until October however the council have decided to go ahead and award the contract anyway.  The fact that Viridor may not be able to process the waste, at a plant that may yet be refused planning permission, doesn’t seem to have got in the way of the contract decision.

In a stunning show of Nimbyism, the Council go on to state that “No incineration of South Lanarkshire Council material will take place in South Lanarkshire – it will be treated in Runcorn”.

We’re sure that the poor beleaguered residents of Weston Point and Runcorn will sleep better now that they know that they will be burning waste from Scotland.

Whatever happened to the proximity principle?  Whatever happend to the basic planning rules that dictated that waste should be treated as close to the source as possible?  How can it possibly be in anyone’s interest, apart from the incinerator companies, to transport waste over 200 miles just to burn it? It’s a poor decision that will leave a bitter taste in the mouth of Runcorn residents.

It was announced today that the firm May Gurney are the fornt runners to get the coveted £126m waste and recycling contract, ahead of the current providers.  It is expected that councillors will confirm the company as the preferred bidder when they meet sometime in September.

Apart from the harmonisation of waste collection across the Cheshire West and Chester council area there will also be a new kitchen food waste recycling service, wich along with other improvements is expected to take the recycling rate across the borough to over 60% within two years.  You can read the full story on the letsrecycle.com site here.

With this level of recycling being committed to across Cheshire it does rather beg the question as to where the waste for these proposed incinerators is actually going to come from.  Given this latest announcement the one thing we can be certain of is that it won’t be from round here!

Knutsford residents are set to receive a new Silver recycling bin which will be used to collect all dry recyclable materials including a wide range of plastics.  The bins are due to be rolled out from September 12th 2011 and will bring Knutsford into line with other areas in Cheshire East Council.

As Cheshire East achieved a recycling rate of just under 50% in 2009/10 it is hoped that the introduction of this new bin will mean that recycling rates can rise even further throughout the County.  With the National average recycling rate being around 40% it means that the North West can once again become a trail blazer for the rest of the UK.

Whilst these great recycling rates and improved recycling services are good news in their own right, it’s even better news for those campaigning against the proposed Covanta incinerator in Middlewich, as it once again underlines the basic flaw in the plan which is that there will never be sufficient material to burn to make the plant worthwhile.  The more the people of Cheshire recycle the less material that can end up in an incinerator.

CHAIN have today received a really nice email from the lovely people at Primafilm in Italy highlighting their new video, a trailer for which can be found on You Tube.

They are making what they claim is the worlds largest petition against incineration by inviting people to send them their names to be included on the end credits of the film.  They hope to amass over 50,000 names for these credits, thereby making it not only a potent message against the dangers of incineration but also the longest film credits in the world.

If you would like your name to be included in the credits for this film then all you need to do is send an email with your name directly to the film company and they will do the rest.  To send an email to them just click here.

In the meantime please check out their website and see the video they have produced at sporchidamorire.com