Recycling row - MP 'has his facts wrong' says county council

But the council says he has his facts wrong.

Mr Baker says the county council has capped the amount of recycling credits issued to Lewes and Wealden District Councils at 27 per cent and 33 per cent respectively of the total waste disposal amount.

Neither district has yet reached the cap limit, but Wealden is very close, currently achieving a 30 per cent recycling rate.

Said Mr Baker: 'The fact that the county council is proposing with one hand to turn away recycled waste and with the other to build a huge incinerator seems to me to be utterly ludicrous.

'It seems quite obvious that we should be recycling more and incinerating less. Presumably the county wants to ensure it has enough waste to burn.'

But a county council spokesman said: 'Norman Baker has got his facts wrong.

'We have not capped the amount of recycling Lewes and Wealden can undertake.

'This year we have budgeted nearly 2 million to support recycling and composting by the waste collection authorities of East Sussex.

'What we have done is agree thresholds with each collection authority, based on where they would want to deliver recycled materials to the suite of new waste management facilities being developed.

'These facilities will allow ever more recycling to be undertaken.

'Clearly, there is no intention to cap the recycling efforts of the waste collection authorities, which are key to better waste management and for diverting waste from landfill.

'The proposed incinerator will treat residents' waste that remains after recycling or composting, generating electricity in the process.

'Despite Norman Baker's suggestion, there is absolutely no intention to incinerate waste that the waste collection authorities segregate for recycling and composting.'