Contrary to the final sentence in your article "Recycle or pay the cost" (The Argus, May 15), the reduction of waste going into landfill sites from the current more than 70 per cent to the Government target of 25 per cent by 2020 does not require the building of expensive white elephants such as the proposed incinerator at Newhaven.

The spin being put on incineration as a strategy for dealing with waste by this Government and several of our local councils is very similar to that being used to try to make a new generation of nuclear power stations acceptable to the public - namely, that these options are better in some way than landfill dumps or fossil-fuel-based energy generation respectively, so we must accept them.

In both cases, there are actually far better solutions which, for reasons beyond common sense, do not seem to fit in with the agendas of the Government or East Sussex County Council.

Alongside improved recycling, the real key to curing our troubles with rubbish is waste reduction.

Layer upon layer of surplus and unrecyclable packaging seems to surround everything we buy.

If our Government had the courage to bite the bullet and tax manufacturers the costs of reprocessing the packaging they produce, I am sure we would see a vast reduction in waste going into the system in a matter of months rather than years.

Even following Ireland's example of a plastic bag tax in supermarkets would be a signal of intent.

Likewise with energy, a serious policy on energy conservation and efficiency, coupled with the proper use of renewable energy technologies already in existence, would render any talk of a new generation of Dungenesses or Sizewells utterly irrelevant.

The question which really needs answering here is why our Government is going in the most illogical direction on both these issues. The vast majority of people who voted for them want neither incinerators nor nuclear power stations.

-Clive Gross, Eastbourne Green Party, Eastbourne