MP: Landfill usage means UK lags behind Europe

Britain is still the "dirty man" of Europe because of the way it deals with landfill waste, one West Sussex MP has asserted.

Conservative minister Nick Herbert, who represents the South Downs constituency, said that countries like Germany and the Netherlands barely use landfill sites anymore because they have invested in technologies to treat rubbish.

They therefore use it as a resource for materials and for energy, rather than merely dumping it in the ground, he continued.

Mr Herbert's comments accompany a parade which attracted more than 1,000 campaigners from across West Sussex to protest against a possible landfill site which has been applied for by Cory Environmental.

"It's a national shame that [the UK is] so far behind our European peer group countries, still thinking it's OK to dump rotting rubbish in the ground and it's not OK," he stated.

He added that other countries and cities worldwide are also changing the way they deal with rubbish and going green.