Councillor Schmitt’s comments about incineration in her recent letter (Times, April 1) are deeply troubling and outdated. The complacency and inability to address/comprehend the scale of effort required to mitigate just the NEW 600,000 tonnes CO2 a year from Rivenhall incinerator is jaw-dropping. High-profile (and expensive) efforts to boost recycling are undermined by the cabinet member for environment and place talking positively about incineration in the same breath. Only landfill and incineration? There are now multiple technologies that fragment non-recyclable waste for integration within new building products – Essex County Council is looking at this approach for its own roads. Landfill represents good ‘carbon capture’ after organic waste and recyclables are removed. Burning just releases CO2 and other nasties into the atmosphere and produces 30 per cent toxic ash for landfill.