The waste plan could mean a new incinerator at North Quay, Newhaven

Angry protests are expected as a long-awaited public inquiry into a new waste programme for East Sussex opens.

Controversial plans for an incinerator at Newhaven and a waste treatment plant at Pebsham are among the topics to be discussed.

The hearing, which is expected to last until September, will look at all aspects of the proposals and will hear from objectors.

East Sussex Friends of the Earth groups said they would join forces to show their opposition to the joint East Sussex, Brighton and Hove draft Waste Local Plan.

'Sent up in smoke'

The protest group wants the plan to exclude incinerators, as they claim these undermine recycling and composting.

It says the council should aim to recycle 50% of municipal waste by 2010.

Alison Walters, an East Sussex waste campaigner, said: "As a Hove resident I am ashamed that my rubbish could end up being burnt in Newhaven.

"The councils should be aiming to recycle and compost most of our waste, not send it up in smoke."

Incinerators planned

A final report will be released in the summer of 2004.

East Sussex County Council in March approved a �1bn contract for firm Onyx Aurora to dispose of all household waste in East Sussex over the next 25 years.

In order to do so, the company proposes building one incinerator at North Quay, Newhaven, by 2009, with a potential second site at Pebsham, near Bexhill, or at Mountfield, near Battle, in the future.

No definite decision can be made until the conclusion of the public inquiry.