COUNCIL taxpayers in Cornwall are paying around £98 in charges for every tonne of rubbish they send to landfill, says the county council – and the price is rising rapidly.

Every household in the county sends an average of 743kg of waste to landfill a year, Cornwall waste development advisory panel heard this week.

The panel discussed ways – including incentives and punitive measures – to raise the levels of recycling.

Julian German, Cornwall's Cabinet member for the environment and waste management, called for more waste recycling centres to be built in the county as soon as possible.

Panel members reviewed the latest technologies available for dealing with waste and the associated costs.

Technologies included mechanical biological treatment, energy from waste (incineration), gasification and mechanical heat treatment.

Cornwall's waste handling policy suffered a setback earlier this year when the former Liberal Democrat administration vetoed a planning application for an incinerator at St Dennis.