And rather than burning household waste, PREL's building will deal with industrial, and even hazardous, waste, from a much larger catchment area than the city council's project.

It would be able to deal with more than 650,000 tonnes of waste every year, most of which will come from within 20 miles of the Fengate location.

It is hoped the facility will improve the city's green credentials, creating enough power to light up 60,000 homes.

Last year Chris Williams, managing director of PREL said there was no risk of harmful chemicals being emitted into the atmosphere. He said: "The cleaning is so efficient that the air coming out is actually cleaner than the air that comes in from the outside.

Proximity is not an issue

THE city council energy-from-waste plant will be of a size suitable for the disposal of the household waste from Peterborough that cannot be recycled.

The council says the technology has been tried and tested and is reliable and safe.

It is already being used in many of Europe's most environmentally conscious countries – such as Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

The technology used and the operation of the energy-from-waste plant will conform to an Environmental Permit issued by the Environment Agency, under the most stringent safety guidelines.

So the proximity of the city council energy-from-waste plant and PREL's proposed site has no relevance.

Related: Site of proposed new energy plant revealed
Two incinerator sites could be neighbours. 06/06/08