Friends of the Earth Response to Cllr Brett

Dear Richard,

Your comments have been passed onto me to respond. Sorry it has taken me
so long to do this.

Although you are factually correct that much of the ash from the Sheffield
incinerator is used this is because at the present moment in time there is
a market for it. Are you confident that this market will remain for the
next 25 years or the lifetime of the incinerator? We are not.

The toxic element of the ash only goes to prove that incinerators do not
solve the problem they concentrate it.
Would you be comfortable living in an area in the knowledge that lorries
passing your house contain this concentrated toxic material? We are not.

In order to take out the toxic materials the filtration systems at
incinerators have to be working perfectly all the time. Are you confident
that this will be the case over 25 years or the lifetime of the
incinerator? We are not.

Veolia run the Sheffield plant. They are a French multi national company
who have a poor accident record, a poor safety record and have also shown
to manage their plants inadequately when it comes to ensuring pollutants do
not exceed EU limits. They are also widely criticized for investing heavily
in the occupied West Bank in Israel/Palestine.

In short incineration is a high risk strategy operated by massive
companies who care about profits not people and in practice have held
Councils over a barrel when it comes to negotiating changes to contracts
when circumstances change.

I hope this makes you reconsider.

Best Regards

David Fanaroff
Leeds Friends of the Earth and NIL