HEALTH professionals protested against plans for a 'mega-incinerator' in Teesside.
Professionals from the Medact North East group, some of who live in Hexham, protested outside Newcastle Civic Centre on Saturday, September 14.
The group delivered an open letter, signed by more than 100 North East health professionals, to the council raising concerns about the health impacts of the proposed development of the ‘Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility’ (TV ERF), an incinerator planned for Redcar.
The TV ERF is a partnership of seven North East councils including Newcastle City Council and Durham County Council.
The facility would burn waste from 1.5 million homes that would otherwise go to landfill, the councils said.
Concerns were raised about the incinerator's potential impact on public health and the environment, which would burn up to 512,000 tonnes of waste per year from seven councils.
The incinerator would release air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions which have multiple negative health impacts, according to the organisation Client Earth.
Analysis by Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion (OCSI) shows that Grangetown, the site of the proposed incinerator, already has among the highest death rates from respiratory disease and the lowest average healthy life expectancy in England.
Protestors outlined these concerns and appealed to the council for increased investment in waste reduction and recycling instead - which they say would create more jobs than incineration.
Dr Gill Turner, consultant paediatrician and Hexham district resident, said: "I've worked in child health for almost 30 years. The planned mega-incinerator would release air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
"There is increasing evidence of the many risks that air pollution poses to health including children's health. Climate change is described as the biggest threat to public health of the 21st century. We need to be doing all we can to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution rather than increasing them. Incineration is bad news for human health."
A statement issued on behalf of the TV ERF project partners said: "The TV ERF project is essential to the region and will allow the partner authorities to safely and sustainably treat the rubbish left over after recycling that is produced by more than one and a half million people across the region – avoiding landfill, which is the only viable alternative.
"Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facilities like the TV ERF are widely in use across the UK and are a proven, safe and reliable solution to treat waste. They are subject to intense regulatory scrutiny through both the permitting process and on an ongoing basis once operational.
"The regulatory context, across planning, recycling and waste policy, environmental protection, and health protection allows for the development and operation of the TV ERF and EfW is now a mature industry which has been subject to much scrutiny over decades.
"As such, the partner authorities remain of the view that the TV ERF remains the safest and best environmental solution for the treatment of local waste left over after recycling.”
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