Environmental campaigners don't like proposals to produce energy from rubbish which are an essential part of the waste plan being produced for East Sussex. They cite health scares

elsewhere, particularly in Newcastle, where there have been worries about the high levels of dioxins in materials from an incinerator spread on local paths.

East Sussex, along with Brighton and Hove Council, says there should be waste burners at Mountfield Mine, near Robertsbridge, and at Newhaven to deal with much of the area's refuse. Sites for landfill are fast running out and even with the best will in the world, recycling is not going to fill the gap by the time the tips are full. The plant at Newcastle was built in the Seventies and there have been big advances in waste technology since then. Councillors say they have been to other, more recent plants, where pollution levels are minimal.

People who live near any incinerator will want assurances that there is as little pollution as possible. But the risks from dealing with waste in any way cannot be entirely eliminated. Some pollution is caused even with recycling, as glass and paper go through an industrial process so they can be used again. Many old tips release quantities of dangerous methane gas.

Environmentalists who oppose the incinerators will have to convince the public that their alternatives are more effective, practical and safer than modern energy from waste plants.