WASTE meat and bones could be burned as an alternative fuel at a Clitheroe cement works within a year.

But clean air campaigners have reacted angrily to the move by Castle Cement, claiming the health and welfare of residents was being sacrificed for company profits.

Castle Cement, which is at the centre of a long-running row with residents over its use of the toxic waste fuel, Cemfuel, has announced its intention to fire Kiln 7 at its Ribblesdale works with waste meat and bonemeal from the animal rendering industry.

The company wants to switch to the Agricultural Waste Derived Fuel (AWDF) from coal and, if given the go-ahead, could be burning up to 1,000 tonnes of it a week within a year.

Castle Cement must first apply to pollution watchdog the Environment Agency for permission to use the fuel and intends carrying out a full public consultation exercise on the matter.

Gareth Price, general manager at Castle Cement in Clitheroe, said the fuel would be sourced from one of the largest meat rendering companies in the UK.

The fuel, derived from waste animal products and resembling damp sand, would be made safe by sterilisation at high temperatures, he said.

It would not contain material from cattle over 30 months old that might be suspected or confirmed as having BSE, he added.

"The fuel will be delivered to Ribblesdale in sealed vehicles and stored in sealed silos.

"It will be completely consumed by the high temperatures in the kiln and the residues or ash from the combustion process combined with limestone to become cement.

"There will be no residues to be disposed of and from the experience of our sister companies in Europe we anticipate no changes to emissions, except a lowering of nitrogen oxide.

"It will help us achieve environmental sustainability, by reducing our use of natural resources and fossil fuels, and preventing the material being disposed of in landfill." Mr Price added: "It is being used perfectly safely across Europe." A spokesman for the Environment Agency today said: "Castle Cement will not be allowed to use the fuel until a rigorous programme of trials has been drawn up to ensure that every aspect is considered and thoroughly tested, including checks on all releases to air, land and water."

But Worston resident Lynda England, of the Ribble Valley Friends of the Earth group, said: "We've had Cemfuel, tyres and nappies, now we've got meat and bones. No doubt the long-suffering people of Clitheroe will just have to put up with it like they've had to put up with everything else for the sake of Castle Cement's profits."

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said: "Castle Cement's Ribblesdale works is increasingly being seen as a waste disposal unit. What is it going to burn next?"