| Party | Ward | Name | Runway extension | Waste reduction and recycling | Incineration expansion | Smaller wheelie bins to encourage recycling |
| BNP | Dorridge and Hockley Heath | A Taylor | No | Yes | X | Yes |
|
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative |
Dorridge and Hockley Heath
Olton
Shirley West |
Ken Meeson
Helen Eyre
Dennis Eyre |
X
X
X |
Yes
Yes
Yes |
X
No
? |
Yes
Yes
Yes |
| Green Party | Dorridge and Hockley Heath | Sara Stevens | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Green Party | Olton | Roger King | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Green Party | Bickenhill | Alexander Hawkeswood | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Green Party | Elmdon | Elaine Williams | No | Yes | No | Yes |
|
Green Party
|
Knowle
|
Jane Holt
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Green Party
Green Party
Green Party
|
Meriden
Shirley East
Silhill
|
Nigel Dyer
Olga Farooqui
Clair Garbett
|
No
No
No
|
Yes
Yes
Yes
|
No
No
No
|
Yes
Yes
Yes
|
| Labour Party | Bickenhill | Ian McDonald | X | Yes | No | Yes |
| Liberal Democrat | Lyndon | Irene Chamberlain | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Liberal Democrat | St Alphege | Mamdooh Jalil | X | Yes | X | Yes |
| Liberal Democrat | Silhill | Tony Dupont | X | Yes | X | Yes |
|
UKIP
UKIP |
Knowle
Elmdon |
Mark Penny
David Hossell |
No
No |
Yes
Yes |
No
Undecided |
Yes
Yes |
The questions we posed to candidates are as follows:
Q1: Do you support the proposed extension to the runway at Birmingham International Airport?
Q2: Do you support increased investment in waste reduction and recycling?
Q3: Do you support the planned expansion of Coventry & Solihull incinerator?
Plan to extend the runway at BIA
Extending the runway and increasing runway capacity will increase the climate change impact of flights from Birmingham International Airport and make reducing that impact in the future much more difficult. Projected figures suggest that if the runway extension goes ahead, the contribution of emissions from flights at BIA will be more than that of all other emissions in Solihull combined by 2020. Any CO2 savings accrued through Midlands air travellers no longer travelling long surface distances to reach other airports pale into insignificance when compared to the higher carbon emissions long-distance flights from BIA would create. The long-term effects of climate change will be devastating for the economy; increasing CO2 emissions will ultimately harm, not benefit, the economy. (www.flyagra.co.uk)
Coventry & Solihull incineration plant
It is currently being proposed to substantially increase the capacity of the Coventry & Solihull incinerator. Incinerators need a minimum amount of rubbish to operate; due to the length of the contract, expanding the plant could lead to local authorities limiting necessary waste prevention and recycling plans in order to meet the demand for a steady stream of waste, as recycling becomes more prevalent and the amount of waste produced falls over the forthcoming years. Incineration is not as bad as landfill as a waste disposal method but it is expensive and still produces harmful greenhouse gases. A preferable way of disposing of waste that cannot be recycled is anaerobic digestion of residual mixed waste, using a range of technologies to treat waste and break down organic components. This waste disposal method emits no fossil fuel-derived CO2.
Energy from waste is being sold as a green method of waste disposal and energy production; this is not the case. Electricity-only incinerators currently emit 33% more CO2 per unit of energy than gas power stations. Taking into account the proposed improvements in fossil fuel power stations, by 2020 it is predicted that this figure will rise to 78% and emitting only around 5% less CO2 than coal power stations. Even when the heat from these plants is captured and used, e.g. to heat a local factory, incineration plants will emit notably more CO2 than gas power stations by 2020. In addition, recycling materials rather than burning them saves large amounts of energy in the manufacturing process.
(Friends of the Earth: Dirty Truths – www.foe.org.uk/campaigns/waste/issues/incineration_and_landfill)
Solihull wheelie bin plans
Solihull MBC intends to consult on providing a small black wheelie bin to replace black refuse sacks. While there is a strong correlation between the provision of larger refuse containers and growth in the waste collected – seeming that people are less inclined to store, reuse, home compost or recycle when they have a large convenient bin to fill up – research suggests that the supply of smaller bins (e.g. 140 litre wheeled bins) combined with kerbside recyclables collection containers results in improved recycling participation rates and can stimulate home composting and other waste prevention activities.
(DEFRA: International Waste Prevention and Reduction Practice: Final Report, 2004)
