IN WINTER, the Aire Valley frequently experiences a temperature inversion so that rising air hangs in the valley for a very long time.
We also get days when easterly winds blow up the valley.
If the new incinerator is built in Keighley then such weather conditions will carry towards Skipton particles of burnt plastic, which contain complex mixtures of PCBs that cannot be fully filtered out.
We will therefore have to breathe in our own waste.
A recent scientific report identified there are now 8.3 billion tones of plastic on the planet, which is the equivalent of 25,000 Empire State Buildings. More than 70 per cent of what has been produced has already become waste and only seven per cent of plastic waste is recycled.
We are therefore faced with the following choices. Build ever higher landfill dumps and ruin more of the ocean. Breathe in burnt plastic particles from incinerators no one wants to live near. Or radically cut down on our production and use of plastics, particularly on such wasteful uses such as packaging, and put a lot more effort and expense into recycling.
The Aire Valley incinerator is a deeply unpleasant result of our unsustainable lifestyles, and the noxious air it is going to pump out should be worrying all Craven residents every bit as much as the people of Keighley.
COUNCILLOR ANDY BROWN Green Party Aire Valley with Lothersdale
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