4 members of the group participated in a conference in Tiverton last week that included representatives from Devon County Council, MDDC, Viridor (who have planning permission to build a new Energy from Waste (EfW) plant at Marsh Barton, Exeter) as well as a number of Community Groups such as Transition Town Totnes and Proper Job Chagford. Opinions were often divided as to how Devon should manage its waste issue, but there was general agreement that recycling is critical and that rates must be improved.

We learned some interesting and disturbing statistics about the amount of landfill waste that Devon households currently produce: 400,000 tons a year or 548 kgs for every household! The current household recycling rate across the County is 52% by weight, with Teignbridge and South Hams being most successful at 58-59% and Mid Devon lagging some way behind! DCC's target is for 57% county wide by 2014.

DCC are very firmly of the opinion that the way forward with treating residual waste (that which they say cannot be recycled or from households who refuse to recycle) is to construct and utilise Energy from Waste plants such as the one which now has planning permission for Exeter. These plants incinerate the waste at high temperatures and this produces steam to run electricity generation turbines. Two more such plants are in the planning stage for Plymouth and Barnstaple. We listened to the presentations by DCC and Viridor on the issue were then asked to vote on how we felt about Energy from Waste schemes being the way forward for Devon. Sustainable Crediton participants felt the arguments against them which are too long to be listed here were very strong and said a definite 'no' to them. This was however very much the minority view in the room overall.

Conclusions we have drawn from the day? That to reduce first, then reuse and finally recycle is critical to the future of a truly sustainable society and that as households we have a duty to get as close to a 'zero waste' situation in our own homes as possible. We would ask each and every one of you therefore not only to strive to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible in your own homes, but to become ambassadors for the cause by passing the message on to others. Thank you.