Protesters gathered outside the opening session of the public inquiry into controversial waste plans in East Sussex to demand incineration is scrapped.

More than 100 people, some waving placards, called on Brighton and Hove City Council and East Sussex County Council to recycle more rubbish instead of burning it at an incinerator proposed at North Quay, Newhaven.

They said at least 50 per cent of household waste should be recycled or composted, rather than the 35 per cent in the waste plans.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Alison Walters said: "As a Hove resident I am ashamed that my rubbish could end up being burned in Newhaven. The councils should aim to recycle and compost most of our waste, not send it up in smoke."

The demonstration included anti-incinerator campaigners from Newhaven and Mountfield, near Robertsbridge, which is also identified for a burner in the plans.

Contractor Onyx Aurora, which has already signed a £1 billion waste disposal bill with the councils, only wants to build at North Quay.

Outside the public inquiry at the White Hart Hotel, Lewes, Newhaven MP Norman Baker said: "This is an early demonstration of the strong opposition there is from all quarters to this clapped-out half-baked proposal.

"They have opened up a hornet's nest and they are going to have a very rough ride at this public inquiry.

"We are going to do everything possible to stop this incinerator."

The inquiry will hear more than 80,000 individual objections during the next four months.

Dozens of demonstrators crowded into the inquiry room for the first session. In his opening statement, Timothy Howard, representing the councils, said the plans reflected the principles of sustainable waste management, balancing the needs of disposing of household waste and environmental protection.

He said: "I know there is a lot of feeling and quite rightly so about these emotive and complex issues.

"However, we are not here simply to ride rough-shod over any objections which do not tally with that strategy."

As well as the two incinerators, the waste plans call for recycling centres at Hangleton Bottom, Hove, Hollingdean Depot, Brighton and sites at Eastbourne, Uckfield and Bexhill.

Some landfill is proposed at Beddingham, near Lewes and Ashdown Brickworks, Bexhill.

A road/rail waste transfer station is proposed at the Sackville Trading Estate, Hove.

Onyx Aurora does not want to use all the sites and has chosen some not included in the plans the inquiry will examine.

Planning applications would have to be submitted for the individual waste sites.

The councils do not expect planning applications for major facilities, such as an incinerator, until after the inquiry report is published in mid 2004.