SIR – I congratulate Peter Luff for taking a stand against the Hartlebury incinerator plant (Worcester News, June 20).

The opposition to the plans is completely justified, as the incinerator is bound to cause air pollution, generate extra lorry traffic in the area, and be a general eyesore.

The only people who will profit from it are the operators, leaving local people and the environment to suffer the consequences.

We need to become a wastefree economy. Enormous strides have already been made, in terms of recycling and we need to continue with these, and in eliminating waste in the first place.

This requires changes to the way we do things, with manufacturers, retailers, caterers, and us all required to do our bit.

We cannot carry on using precious resources as packaging, which ends up either in landfill or the ocean.

Packaging needs to be reduced, with suppliers, not taxpayers, paying for disposal. And we really should have a deposit scheme for tins, cans, plastics etc.

Once again, we seem to have a case of businesses wanting to act in their own interests, against the wishes of the people, which rather echoes the general discussion about housing in the area.

It would be great if government and local authorities finally got the message that people have the right not to have unwelcome developments, be it housing or infrastructure like this, foisted on them.

Left to their own devices, business and local government would like nothing more than to pave over the county to make way for ever more housing, even though they know that people just do not want it.

It is a pity that local politicians, especially the Greens, do not speak out more on housing, but where they do speak out on environmental issues, as Mr Luff is, they deserve support and recognition.

The incinerator would be a disaster anyway, in terms of the pollution it would cause.

But in the long term, the problem is that incinerators are a quick fix solution.

STEVE DAVIS
Worcester