Environment cabinet councillor Chris Morley said an incinerator he visited in northern France was "most impressive".

He was part of a Brighton and Hove Council visit to Rouen in Normandy last week to see the energy-from-waste plant.

Incineration, possibly at a site in Newhaven, is part of the waste plan proposed by the council and East Sussex County Council.

Coun Morley told the policy committee: "It was most impressive. It was a serious piece of equipment and not just a glorified bonfire."

He said that while recycling was an essential part of the plan, energy from waste also had to be a way forward.

Tory Opposition leader Brian Oxley said advances in technology had seen improvements in energy from waste plants and reductions in trace elements in the residue.

No site in the Brighton and Hove area has been identified as suitable for incineration in the plan.

The committee agreed to improve the recycling targets for both authorities in the next 14 years covered by the waste plan.

Targets now range from 20 per cent of waste to be recycled by 2003 and 40 per cent by 2015. The current figure is about 11 per cent.

Green councillor Keith Taylor, an opponent of incineration, said he was disappointed at the lack of information.

But council leader Ken Bodfish said: "I sometimes wonder what planet he is on and whether he has read the papers."