Environmental protesters today called on councils to delay a multi-million pound waste contract and look again at boosting recycling.

At a demonstration to oppose plans to build a massive incinerator at Newhaven, the Green Party and pressure group Friends Of The Earth said people wanted to recycle more rather than rely on burning waste.

Their comments came two days before East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council are expected to agree a £1 billion waste disposal deal.

Contractor Onyx Aurora plans to build an incinerator at North Quay, Newhaven, if councillors back the controversial deal on Wednesday.

Green Party Euro MP Caroline Lucas said: "I am calling on the members of those two authorities to step back from the brink of committing this area to 25 years of burning precious resources with all the health and environmental damage that involves.

"I am calling on them to delay approving the contract until the public inquiry has reported what the public are saying and they can incorporate the latest legislation into a sustainable plan."

Thousands of people have objected to building a burner at Newhaven. It is included in plans to be tested at a public inquiry starting in May.

Dr Lucas, speaking to campaigners at a meeting in Lewes, said the councils' plans would be left in turmoil if the Municipal Waste Recycling Bill became law.

The Bill, which has yet to win Government support, calls for 50 per cent recycling and more door-to-door collections. It will be debated for the first time in the Commons on Friday.

Friends of the Earth, demonstrating outside Brighton Town Hall today, said 80 per cent of household waste could be recycled or composted.

Brighton and Hove campaigner Alison Walters said: "Incineration is hugely unpopular and a waste of valuable resources.

"This is why the Recycling Bill is so important as it will encourage councils like ours to offer the best recycling schemes possible."

The contract expected to be approved by the two authorities calls for between 33 per cent and 35 per cent of household rubbish to be recycled.

The councils said the plan was the best environmental option of eight alternatives studied and was flexible enough to be adapted to changes in the law.

They said modern incinerators were cleaner than older burners and emissions were now subject to tough European rules.

As well as an incinerator at Newhaven, the contract calls for a large composting plant at Golden Cross, near Hailsham, and modern anaerobic digestion technology at Pebsham, Bexhill.

The proposed Newhaven incinerator is expected to be able to burn 225,000 tonnes of waste a year and start operating in 2009.