Calls for all to get their eyes tested
WASTE INCINERATOR WOULD BE ENVIRONMENTALLY DAMAGING, PARTY SAYS
THE Royal National Institute of Blind People is calling on people to make sure they get their eyes checked regularly.
To mark national Eye Test Week, which began today, the charity is highlighting the role high street optometrists can play at a time when hospitals are facing backlogs in appointments.
Louise Gow, specialist lead in eye health at RNIB, said: “The most common sight conditions in the UK, including cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration can be detected during a routine eye test.
“With optometrists reopening after lockdown, we are urging anyone who is due an eye test to book an appointment.
“Numerous safety measures have been put in place to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.
“We want to reassure people every effort is being made to ensure their safety and urge them to get sudden changes in vision seen to.”
GREEN Party members have expressed concern about plans to build a waste incinerator to replace Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.
The plant would generate electricity by burning household and commercial waste.
Supporters say it would create low-carbon electricity and save waste from being sent to landfill sites, where it creates emissions.
However opponents, who now include the Green Party, argue it will be environmentally damaging.
Local opponents have set up a petition calling for the scheme to be halted.
The matter is due to be decided by Nottinghamshire County Council.
Guy Jones is the chairman of the Nottingham Green Party, which has now formally submitted its objections to the county council.
He said: “This proposal is an example of the insanity that prevails when business pays lip service to environmental issues.
“Not only is incinerating waste not a form of recycling, it causes damage to the environment directly.
“Much of the waste that will be burnt at the plant is plastic. Plastic is made from fossil fuels. This incinerator will be nothing more than a fossil fuel power station just like the plant it is replacing.
“The solution to waste is to reduce, reuse and recycle.
“Burning it to create energy will simply justify the continued production of the waste in the first place.
“The solution to the energy problem is to reduce the need and massively increase production from environmentally sensitive and sustainable sources.
“Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station should be converted to a Green Energy Centre, providing environmentally low-impact and sustainable power to people and business in the area.”
In submitting their objections, the party argued the plant will generate “about 450,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, with no realistic proposal to become carbon neutral”.
They also said the developers have failed to demonstrate a need for extra incinerator capacity, have “seriously overstated” the quantities of residual waste and “understated incineration capacity in the surrounding area”.
They said Uniper, the company behind the proposal, estimates 26.1 per cent of the energy in the waste will be exported as electricity – worse than the efficiency of UK coal-fired power stations which is about 32 per cent.
A spokeswoman for Uniper said: “Uniper would be happy to meet with representatives from Nottingham Green Party and answer their questions about our proposal to develop an energy recovery facility at the Ratcliffeon-Soar power station site.
“The proposed facility, known as the East Midlands Energy ReGeneration (Emerge) Centre,
UP IN THE AIR: Ratcliffe coal-fired power station could be replaced by a waste incinerator would play an important role in helping meet the UK’s ambitions to effectively and efficiently reduce waste and manage its impact on the environment, reducing CO2 emissions, and helping the East Midlands meet its landfill diversion targets.
“The Emerge Centre would take non-hazardous domestic and commercial wastes left over from the recycling process, and which have no viable alternative use, and convert it into reliable, sustainable and lower carbon energy.
“Currently, the UK does not have enough facilities to handle the quantities of non-recyclable waste the country produces.
“About 13.7 million tonnes of waste is landfilled or exported. That could provide a reliable and sustainable source of domestically generated energy. From the outset, the Emerge Centre would be expected to save emissions equivalent to 106,000 tonnes of CO2 a year compared to the alternative of landfilling the waste, which is similar to heating more than 39,000 homes.
“This project forms part of a wider vision for Ratcliffe-on-Soar – to move towards becoming a zero carbon technology and energy hub for the East Midlands.
“We have set out a roadmap which demonstrates how the centre could be compatible with net zero by 2050. While many of these of these technologies are not currently available, the Emerge Centre would support the future addition of advanced recycling and reuse technologies.”