IAM concerned about Lancashire County Council's plans to burn nearly half of Lancashire's waste in incinerators. National newspapers have reported that airborne pollution from incinerators in the United States has travelled thousands of miles and resulted in high levels of birth defects in the native Inuit population in Canada.

Wherever the Lancashire incinerator is built, the chances are that we in Blackburn and Darwen will suffer from the toxins that incinerators produce.

BBC TV's Newsnight programme recently highlighted the difficulty of disposing of incinerator ash safely. The documentary claimed that the Environment Agency has not prevented incinerator ash, containing high levels of cancer-causing tioxins, from being recycled into roads, paths and housebuilding materials.

The county council has been pressed by environmental campaigners into reconsidering the waste strategy. I sincerely hope that this will include a full investigation into alternatives to incineration.

Lancashire councillors now have an opportunity to follow trailblazing councils in Australia and Canada. Communities there have introduced recycling and composting facilities that are so easy for the public to use, that the bulk of the waste is dealt with in this way.

The remaining waste is treated, to reduce the volume by half and remove the most toxic materials, before landfilling. Such methods would allow us to reduce the amount that we are landfilling drastically, without producing more poisons by burning waste.

LISA BROOKS, Manic Organics, Bridge Street, Darwen.