GREEN activists have expressed fears about potential damage to the environment caused by the sludge burning at Shell Green incineration plant, which is due to open next month
The Shell Green incinerator, which North West Water have built to comply with European environmental laws, will get rid of sludge by burning approximately 50 per cent of it.
The rest will either go to landfill sites or be used on fields.
Friends of the Earth spokesperson Viv Mountford said: "It's not acceptable to burn this sludge. It should be treated as a re-usable resource.
"Other water companies are going in for drying the sludge, which makes it easier to spread on the land without creating smells. North West Water should also be doing this."
She added that there was a danger of heavy metals and dioxins being released into the local atmosphere when the sludge is burned.
Shell Green was built in the teeth of local opposition which necessitated a full-scale public inquiry.
A spokesperson for North West Water said no official opening date had been set for Shell Green.
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