A parody poster based on Croydon Council’s latest recycling campaign had to be withdrawn and re-drafted over fears of legal action.
The Stop The Incinerator Campaign’s Dave Pettener, a wag as well as a dab-hand with PhotoShop, had taken Croydon’s latest “Ker-ching” campaign and turned the message on its head to illustrate the costs of going ahead with the £1 billion contract with Viridor to build and operate a waste incinerator at Beddington Lane.
Labour in Croydon has always opposed the incinerator development. Croydon is one of four boroughs in the South London Waste Partnership which have jointly agreed the deal to build the incinerator in Sutton. But since winning control of Croydon Council in the local elections in May, Labour has gone very quiet on this issue, which is due to go before a High Court judge in a Judicial Review in the autumn.
The council Ker-ching posters proclaimed how much money is being saved by recycling. The Stop The Incinerator Campaign maintain that by paying to burn waste, there will be less incentive for the council to recycle the borough’s rubbish.
“The issue I have with the council’s poster is a simple one,” Pettener said, “the rubbish will not be properly sorted before it goes in to the incinerator, therefore, rubbish that could be recycled, re-used or treated in less harmful ways will get burned.
“And so I came up with a response that played on the wording of their posters. However, I was advised by our legal team that the poster I had made might be ‘problematic’ and I withdrew it,” said the campaigner.
“Originally I had put that Viridor would be making £5 billion profit from burning our rubbish. This is not correct.
“If Viridor’s incinerators in Cardiff, Runcorn and Sutton all go ahead they will have contracts worth nearly £6 billion from burning rubbish that could otherwise be treated in less harmful ways.”
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- Video: How LibDem changed his “mind” on incinerator
Coming to Croydon
- South Norwood Arts Festival, July 5-20
- Basically Johnny Moped at Stanley Tech, July 8
- David Lean Cinema: We Are The Best!, July 10
- Croydon Folk and Blues Festival, July 12
- David Lean Cinema: Half of a Yellow Sun, July 17
- David Lean Cinema: Pantani: Accidental Death of a Cyclist, July 21
- David Lean Cinema: Tracks, July 24
- Fragile, Spread Eagle Theatre, July 24-26
- CODA’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at Wandle Park, Jul 30-Aug 2
- David Lean Cinema: Locke, July 31
- Elm Tree Cottage garden open day, Aug 10
- Norwood Society Talk: War Memorials, Sep 18
- Norwood Society Talk: From Fire Station to Theatre, Oct 16
- Norwood Society Talk: Lambeth’s Archives, Nov 20
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