there is a waste recycling plant lookin for plannin permission near my home...?

Question

I want to start a petition against it's construction but don't know where to find information on how it can harm people in the locality and also future genterations....it has also mentioned that it will be holding medical waste...also whats the best way to get petitions signed...post or go door to door?

Answer 1

There's no reason you shouldn't show some concern when any industrial plant is built in your community. Just because it is a recycling plant does NOT mean that it shouldn't be held to the highest of community standards. Instead of taking the adversarial approach which could just put you at odds with city/county planners, attend your local council meetings and ensure that some of the planning session is open to the public in order that you have some input in the process, or that at least your concerns are heard.

Give a phone call to your city or county offices and ask for the planning & development office. Request a copy of the environmental impact report for the proposed processing plant. You may find some or all of your concerns addressed. As was stated in the answers above, recycling is an overall positive for the community...and your vigilance in making sure that ALL public facilities meet your community's needs and concerns will also be appreciated.

Answer 2

I sympathise with the position you find yourself in and understandably few people would want a recycling facility or other commerical activity near their home.

However, these facilities have to go somewhere and wherever that place is it's going to affect someone. I think that perhaps a bit of give and take is needed. For example, the sewerage you produce in your house is processed near someone else's home, the power you use is produced near someone's home, the materials in your computer were processed in a chemical plant near someone's home. In short, there's som many facilities that we rely on in our modern society and ultimately someone has to suffer as a consequence.

I'm guessing that you're in the UK which has very stringent rules and regulations in place regarding the processing of waste and it's an industry which has an excellent safety record. If this plant doesn't go ahead you may find that in the future the site is used for something much more unwelcome.

Medical waste, like all biohazardous material, has to be very carefully disposed of and any company handling such material has to be licensed and in order to be licensed they have to prove their competency and undergo regular inspections and compliance procedures. In most cases such material is disposed of by inceneration - it is suitably packaged at source and is never unpackaged (the packaging being incinerated along with the waste itself). There are also different levels of biohazardous waste and it's only low level waste that would be disposed of at such a facility. High level waste such as infectious materials are disposed of at source (hospital crematoria for example).

If you want to raise a petition my advice would be to first look at all the different aspects, consult with the company applying for planning permission and seek out their viewpoint, obtain a copy of the planning application and read it carefully, ask the local authority what their policy is for waste processing, consult the Health and Safety Executive for their policies and to obtain information about the past record of such plants. Once you have all this information you are in a position to build a stronger case based on fact and not opinion - opinions count but ultimately the planning department are more concerned with fact. If you are able to counter the planning application with your own well constructed arguments it will hold more sway than a petition with a bunch of signatures on it. After all, look how many other petitions there have been, some with millions of signatories, and by and large they get ignored.

The petition should be just one aspect, the one that reflects public opinion but you need much more than this. When collecting signatures it is perhaps better to consult with people face to face and if you've done your homework you can answer any questions they have. As well as a space for the signatures also include space so that people can add their own comments.

Answer 3

I appreciate your concerns and wouldn't want one built near me either. Bobs comment was quite unhelpful and maybe he would like to have one on his doorstep instead? I don't live anywhere near a recycling plant but i would share your concerns over waste disposal but it needs to be done somewhere. If you can come up with good grounds for a suitable alternative then make your feelings known at local government level. I'm not a political activist by any means but these people rely on your vote to stay in their comfy chairs..

I do pass a landfill site on my way to work everyday and although it can't be seen, the local villagers can smell it and they are not happy.

Answer 4

This has a name - NIMBY.

It stands for Not In MY Backyard. People say they support the environment, as long as no environmental facility is built near to them.

Why don't you try to find out about the facility? How is it designed? What government agency will regulate it? There may well be an environmental group working with the developers to see this is all done properly. Call your local government and ask.

Is everybody just says NIMBY we'll never fix the environment.

Answer 5

don't know either