A decision has been taken to recycle the county's rubbish wherever possible in a bid to avoid the need for incinerators.

Essex County Council, which has to dispose of the refuse collected by district and borough councils, has bowed to massive opposition by the public on its draft waste plan.

It has now opted for the green approach - disposal based on recycling and re-use, with incineration to be used only as a last resort.

Earlier versions proposed eight major waste management sites including ones at Sandon, Rivenhall and North Weald, which could house incinerators.

Although the sites remain in the plan they are now being called strategic sites and will only be developed as part of integrated schemes which optimise opportunities for recycling. Their capacity has also been cut by half to 100,000 tonnes a year.

After their decision on Friday, county councillors said the borough and district councils now have the task of upping recycling collections from less than 10 per cent to 40 per cent by 2002 and 60 per cent by 2006.

County planning chairman, Cllr Paul Stumpf, commented: ''After listening long and hard to the people of Essex my colleagues and I have amended the previous plan to take account of public concerns.'' Recycling is now the hub of the rubbish disposal process, he said.

Ian Gale, for the Liberal Democrat group at county hall, said: ''Since we considered the earlier unsatisfactory version of the plan back in October a huge amount of work has taken place between the county council and district councils.''

Mr Gale said the plan confirms an end to taking in London waste which currently doubles the amount Essex has to dispose of.

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