Fears over waste plant emissions

A planning application is due to be submitted within a year

Supporters of Cornwall's organic food industry are expressing concern over a proposed waste-to-energy incinerator.

The plant may be built near St Denis as part of a £500m county waste management contract awarded to Sita UK.

Objectors say the organic industry could be damaged by possible side-effects of the incinerator.

But Sita UK's technical director Gev Eduljee said there was nothing to fear from the plant which had a fail-safe measure controlling emissions.

One farmer, Oliver Baines, from Bodinnick Farm near St Stephen, said: "The first thing we need is a proper public inquiry.

"That will be the forum where those of us who are concerned can have our say.

"What we are concerned about is if there's an accident, when there are huge releases of not just dioxins but also toxic substances as well."

Organic status

The food producers concerns are backed by Organic South West, a Soil Association-managed project.

Traci Lewis, manager of the organisation, said: "Exposure of farmland to emissions from incinerator or incinerator ash could have the potential to affect the organic status of the land."

But Sita UK's technical director, Gev Eduljee, said the plant would have a "fail-safe" system that controlled emissions.

"Were an event to occur that requires the plant to shut down, it shuts down in a manner that does not release emissions into the atmosphere over and above those that would normally be emitted during its normal run of operations.

"The operator has a duty to report all breaches of its permit to the regulator as soon as it happens."

An application for planning permission is expected to be submitted within a year, and if approved could be in operation by 2011.