The decision made by European Union Environment Ministers to reclassify waste incineration with a certain efficiency as 'recovery' rather than 'disposal' has been condemned by environmentalists - including the Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans - as environmentally damaging promotion of waste incineration .

The vote pushes many incinerators up the so-called 'waste hierarchy' at the expense of far more environmentally beneficial actions such as prevention, re-use and recycling. This decision is contrary to an earlier vote in the European Parliament.

In February, MEPs voting in Strasbourg rejected the reclassification of incineration as recovery when they considered changes to EU waste rules (the Waste Framework Directive).

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting of European Environment Ministers, Jill Evans MEP, who represents the whole of Wales in the European Parliament, said:

"The pro-incineration approach by the Council is unacceptable and runs contrary to the view of the European Parliament. Waste incineration is a polluting activity that relies on a continuous input stream of waste over decades, directly undermining all efforts to prevent, reuse and recycle.

"What is the point of endorsing a five-step waste hierarchy, but then to propose precious little on prevention, nothing on re-use and recycling, and instead upgrade incineration from disposal to recovery?

"The promotion of waste incineration makes a mockery of the waste hierarchy. It will encourage the ever-increasing generation of waste - and if that was not enough, it will also lead to an increase of waste shipments.

"It is most frustrating to see how the incinerator lobby won the day in Council: instead of adopting clear targets as demanded by Parliament for the stabilisation and reduction of waste generation to address the root of the problem, Council preferred the burning of more and more waste. This is not the solution to the ever-increasing waste mountains - it is part of the problem."