Council rejects recycling charter

The full council met on Thursday last week to discuss supporting 'maximum' recycling within the council.

However, LibDem councillor Jon Freeman tabled an amendment which called on the council to back the Zero Waste Charter.

The charter was launched earlier this year and seeks to drastically change the way rubbish is dealt with and achieve 100 per cent recycling by 2020.

It is hoped the controversial process of incineration, which some allege can cause health risks, could be phased out as a result.

It has already been signed by 119 towns across the south of England, including Newhaven.

However, Seaford councillors were told the council would have little influence over the charter's main objectives as it was not responsible for waste collection or disposal.

Some 10 Seaford townsfolk at the meeting gasped in shock when the majority of the Conservative-led council voted against the LibDem amendment.

Tory councillor Les Whittle said he recognised the Zero Waste Charter seemed a good idea and that its backers were sincere. He stressed the council should encourage recycling but raised doubts the council could help achieve it.

'Zero Waste is not practical, it is unobtainable,' he said.

Cllr Freeman argued the council should make a stand in the face of proposed Newhaven incinerator plans.

He said: 'We should show the wider area that we mean business.

'If we do not want an incinerator we have to get real, wake up and do something about it.'

Fellow LibDem Eddie Collict added: 'The public want to find another way rather than incineration or burying the waste.'

Tory councillor Cllr Roger Frost thought the charter was 'over ambitious' and could not be achieved.