Thousands of tonnes of rubbish to come through Wisbech firm before being sent abroad for incineration

A Wisbech aggregate suppliers is to receive and shred thousands of tonnes of rubbish before it is sent to destinations around Europe for incineration as part of an agreement made by Norfolk County Council’s environment, development and transport committee.

Incinerators in the Netherlands and Germany are to burn Norfolk’s rubbish, after councillors agreed to ship waste abroad at a meeting this morning.

Waste will be dispatched to Costessey, Rackheath and Frimstone aggregate suppliers on Algores Way, Wisbech, where metal will be removed with a giant magnet before the rest is shredded and then exported across the North Sea under the proposals.

Norfolk County Council’s environment, development and transport committee agreed to the move and the council said the £68m four-year deal would dispose of 160,000 of the county’s 210,000 tonne waste mountain and save taxpayers £2m each year.

A further 40,000 tonnes of rubbish will be treated at the plant in Suffolk following a deal in May.

The decision was met with objection from the Friends of the Earth group, who held up ‘no incineration’ banners at the meeting.

A contract to build an incinerator at Saddlebow, in King’s Lynn, was ripped up last year and conservatives at today’s meeting accused their political opponents, who had campaigned against incineration in Norfolk, of hypocrisy in being prepared to send it abroad.

But Labour, Liberal Democrat and UKIP councillors said this was a pragmatic solution for the short term, while alternative technologies for dealing with waste are developed.