The county council is still considering building up to four incinerators in Oxfordshire to burn rubbish, despite opposition from environmentalists.

The county council is poised to sign a contract next year with a private company charged with producing a strategy for slashing the amount of waste sent to landfill to avoid paying hefty fines due to be levied by the Government.

Protesters demonstrate in September Incineration is one of a range options to be included in a contract which will cost the county council about £300m over 20 years.

Consultation was carried out between July and last month and a report was presented to the county council's executive board yesterday.

Each year thousands of tonnes of waste is dumped at four landfill sites in the county: Sutton Courtenay, between Abingdon and Didcot; Stanton Harcourt; Ardley, near Bicester; and Alkerton, near Banbury.

But from next year strict European laws mean the authority will be fined £200 for every tonne of waste that is tipped above a landfill quota fixed by the Government.

Environmentalists have condemned the idea of using incineration, claiming it goes against consultation conducted by the council earlier this year, which indicated support for alternative ways to dispose of waste.

But the council has pledged that it would go for the greenest option -- probably generating electricity, as well as getting rid of the rubbish.

Andrew Wood, of Oxford Friends of the Earth, said: "The county council has ignored the findings of its public consultation. Incineration potentially threatens human health, undermines recycling and is unnecessary.

"The council should discount incineration now, knowing there are many other options available -- including more recycling, municipal composting and biological treatment of rubbish."

A council working group will discuss waste disposal options, which include composting mixed waste, creating energy by putting waste through a digester and pyrolysis, which heats up waste to produce gas for energy.

If incinerators are chosen, the first would be operational by 2009.

Adam Symons, the council's head of sustainable development, said: "If it was an incinerator, it would have to be one with energy recovery -- it can't be an old-fashioned incinerator."

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