GREENPEACE has slammed a consultation leaflet about plans to burn the borough's waste as "despicable and dishonest".

The "Our Waste Our Challenge" leaflet will be delivered to every home in Macclesfield by The Cheshire Waste Partnership, which is made up of Cheshire County Council and the six district councils.

New European laws mean local authorities must reduce the amount of waste being buried in landfills like Danes Moss - by 25 per cent by 2010; 50pc by 2013; and 65pc by 2020.

The partnership wants to do this by increasing recycling and composting to 40pc, and producing a solid fuel from the residual waste. The fuel will then be burned in an incinerator to produce electricity.

The leaflet outlines the problem - last year Cheshire buried more than 350,000 tons of waste, the same as 50,000 double-decker buses - and provides five options for solving it.

But environmental watchdog Greenpeace has condemned both the consultation and the incinerators, which it is claimed emit cancer-causing chemicals such as dioxins and harm the environment.

Greenpeace campaigner Mark Strutt said: "I find this consultation document quite despicable and dishonest.

"It's basically a sham. It is purporting to give people a choice but there is no choice whatsoever, it offers incineration or incineration. And it doesn't even use the word, instead it says 'energy from waste facility'.

"The options are not really options at all as they're all about incineration. What's more, at the end of the consultation they will use the results as a justification for incineration, saying that people support it."

A county council spokesman said: "The options for consultation were identified by independent experts who assessed how much residual waste will need treating over the next 15 years and all the suitable options for treating it.

"The options use two main types of technology which are explained in detail in the consultation leaflet, which is being distributed to every household in Cheshire.

"These technologies are 'tried and tested' and must operate to tight new environmental standards set down by law."

Option one is to burn all residual waste in one large incinerator; option two is to burn a minimum amount to meet targets and landfill the rest; option three is to build several small incinerators; option four is to produce fuel in a Mechanical Biological Treatment facility for incineration but then find businesses to use it; and option five is the partnership's preferred option.

Mr Strutt added: "Greenpeace's position on incineration remains the same, nothing has changed and we are campaigning against it.

"The 40pc recycling target is very low; some places in the UK are already exceeding that. You can certainly set a Zero Waste policy. It might be difficult to get to that, but 40pc is right at the bottom. It leaves 60pc residual waste and is not very ambitious. Other councils, such as Lancashire, are being much more ambitious.

"Once an incinerator is built to manage residual waste it takes away any incentive to increase recycling."

Coun Andrew Needham, executive member for the environment, said: "In Cheshire we are working hard to reduce residual household waste and we hope to achieve 40pc combined recycling and composting rate by 2010.

"But we still face a huge challenge, as all residual waste cannot continue to go to landfill due to new legislation and rising costs - not to mention the impact it has on the environment.

"When we consulted Cheshire residents on a draft household waste strategy in 2001, 84pc of respondents agreed that energy from waste should be considered once as much recycling and composting had taken place.

"I urge people to look out for the consultation leaflet dropping through their letterboxes and to make sure they have their say on this important issue."

A public meeting will be held at Macclesfield Town Hall on Wednesday, October 20, at 7pm.