ACTIVISTS fighting to prevent a waste incinerator being built at Ernesettle are urging residents to find out the facts for themselves at roadshows beginning today.

The start of the events in Plymouth and Saltash will follow the announcement by the South West Devon Waste Partnership of its final shortlist of possible contractors to build a £100million energy from waste (EfW) plant.

"We are all responsible for producing waste and a solution needs to be found to dispose of it in the most environmentally friendly way, but we have to question if that solution should be incineration," said STIFLE (Stop The Incinerator Fouling Land at Ernesettle).

As reported in The Herald on Saturday, four schemes are still being considered for the EfW plant.

MVV Umwelt has proposed incinerators at sites in Ernesettle and Devonport Naval Base's North Yard, while Sita has put forward a proposal for the Naval Base's South Yard. Viridor is focusing on its own site at New England Quarry near Ivybridge.

These sites could still change as the process continues, but STIFLE insists it will fight on to stop Ernesettle being used, saying building an EfW plant at Ernesettle would blight the Tamar, the region's most iconic river.

They say Ernesettle is unsuitable because it is a greenfield site, former council-owned sports fields, next to the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a Special Area of Conservation, SSSI and County Wildlife Protection Site.

The nearest houses are only 200 metres away from the proposed site, with schools and nursing homes also nearby.

Trucking in rubbish from Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon would add to already severe traffic problems in part of the city's 'green corridor', they say.

"There are local authorities in the UK that are aiming to implement a zero-waste policy," said Geraldine Land of STIFLE. "Governments, councils and industry should be working together to find ways to turn waste into a profitable resource or designing it out of the system altogether.

"The Scottish Parliament is aiming to have no more than 25 per cent of waste sent to incineration by 2025. This compares with the Waste Partnership plan to still be burning 50 per cent of residual waste even as late as 2039."

Mrs Lane called on the councils in the partnership to provide recycling 'islands' in the city centre, to increase garden waste collection and to collect food waste separately.

"Plymouth boasts that recycling rates are 30 per cent, while South Oxfordshire this summer achieved a rate of 70 per cent," she said.

THE waste roadshow is open to all and is at the following venues: today, 5pm to 8pm, Ernesettle Community School, Biggin Hill, Ernesettle; November 11, 4pm to 8pm, City College Plymouth, Kings Road, Devonport; November 12, 5pm to 8pm, Ashtorre Rock, Waterside, Old Ferry Road, Saltash; November 13, 4pm to 8pm, The Watermark, Leonards Road, Ivybridge; and November 14, 10am to 2pm, Plymouth Guildhall.

Read the arguments at www.ernesettle.org.uk and www.plymouth.gov.uk/ swdwp.html