AN energy from waste plant is the best solution to Hertfordshire's growing mountain of rubbish, the county council has insisted, stressing the problems of alternative technology.

Hertfordshire County Council has hit back at claims made this week by environmentalists that it had not considered greener methods of waste disposal for the proposed site in Radlett.

Council spokeswoman Jane Vine said: "The procurement process is looking to find a solution that enables Hertfordshire to divert the maximum amount of waste from landfill.

"Hertfordshire County Council has been technology-neutral throughout the process of procuring a new waste facility. All the companies have been free to propose whichever technology they feel is most appropriate to meet Hertfordshire’s waste management needs.

"While there are other waste treatment technologies available – such as anaerobic digestion (AD) and mechanical biological treatment (MBT), energy from waste has been proposed by the bidders as the best solution for Hertfordshire to treat all of its residual municipal waste – all that is left after recycling and composting."

Critics such as Councillor Ian Brandon and Simon Grover, leader of St Albans Green Party, had called on the council to pursue more environmentally friendly options to combat emissions produced by the incinerator planned for the Harper Lane gravel pit complex.

But the council has rubbished suggestions that the energy from waste plant will have devastating environmental effects and insisted that so-called greener methods have flaws of their own.

Ms Vine continued: "Anaerobic digestion facilities are only suitable for biodegradable waste. In Hertfordshire we already have contracts in place to deal with organic waste by turning it into compost to be used in agriculture. So AD would not be able to treat all the type of waste that we would need to send to them - so there would still be waste left over that would have to go to landfill.

"It should also be pointed out that the use of MBT still relies on the incineration or landfill of a significant proportion of the waste that either MBT cannot treat or that forms a residue form the process.

"So, because we are seeking a solution that would be part of an existing waste management strategy, neither of these technologies would help us to achieve our ambition to divert as much waste as possible from landfill."