I am writing in response to a letter to the editor published in the Parkes Champion Post on the 24th of July by Pam Nankivell.

I share the Pam’s deep concerns about the impacts of climate change, including extreme fires and increasingly severe storms, floods and droughts.

I, too, am also concerned about our society’s over-production of waste, including massive amounts of plastic.

That is exactly why I stand in opposition to the waste incinerator proposed for Parkes.

Energy-from-waste is not a clean technology; the emissions from the stack are not just limited to water vapour.

These facilities emit large amounts of carbon dioxide, on par with other fossil-fuel power plants, especially when burning plastics.

Several of the countries with already operational energy-from-waste plants are moving away from the technology, due to growing concerns about greenhouse gas emissions.

While waste incinerators may temporarily provide relief to our state’s landfills that are nearing capacity, they do nothing to address the root cause of our waste crisis.

As a society, we must drastically reduce the amount of plastic and other waste we produce, and then re-use and recycle to a much greater extent than we currently do.

Audits of Sydney’s red bins show they typically contain around 25 per cent recyclables and 25 per cent green waste, materials that could be recovered and made into useful products, but will instead be incinerated.

The project has been promoted as ‘clean’ and part of a circular economy solution, but in reality, it is a disposal-based technology that destroys resources and generates pollution.

Energy-from-waste is a band-aid solution that risks undermining efforts to tackle overproduction, our throwaway culture, and the climate crisis.

Nicole Blinco, Forbes

INTERESTED TO HEAR ABOUT MP'S VISIT TO WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Dear Editor

Well said Pam Nankivell (Champion Post 24 July).

I would like to add to her comments by referring to the two Waste to Energy projects currently under construction in Western Australia, one at Kwinana is nearing completion and the other at Rockingham in its early stages.

Both are smaller than the Parkes project in that they will process an estimated 460,000 tonnes and 300,000 tonnes of waste respectively. I believe they are within close proximity of each other.

I am pleased to see that Mr Phil Donato intends to visit those sites and I will be interested to read his report on them.

Boyd Chambers, Parkes