Goucestershire Friends of the Earth Network (GFOEN) launched a petition to give people a chance to say 'no' to a large-scale incinerator.

The launch on Friday comes two days after the county council agreed the £7.4-million purchase of part of Javelin Park in Gloucester that critics fear may house an incinerator.

Yesterday members of GFOEN were joined outside Shire Hall in Gloucester by Stroud MP David Drew and Gloucester MP Parmjit Dhanda, who signed the petition to show their opposition a large incinerator at Javelin Park.

GFOEN planning and waste officer Mary Newton said: "At the last waste local plan inquiry there was great opposition to the proposed large-scale incinerator at Sharpness. GFOEN believe that a lot of people do not want to see a large-scale incinerator anywhere in Gloucestershire, so we are launching this petition to give people an opportunity to say so."

She said GFOEN believed the council should be providing residents with better recycling facilities at their homes, including glass, plastics and paper.

Mrs Newton said: "A large-scale incinerator is a demanding beast. It takes a long time to build, it needs a long-term contract of at least 25 years because it is so expensive: once a contract is signed to provide waste to burn, that amount of waste will have to be provided for at least 25 years, it produces toxic fly ash that will probably end up at Wingmoor Farm, Gloucestershire, and better residual waste technologies are available in tackling climate change."

Mr Drew said: "The interests of the waste industry can be very different from what is best for the county, particularly as the reference project is a large incinerator which is likely to give a bidder the best profit return, coming as it does with a cast iron guarantee for at least 25 years."

Mr Dhanda said: "Gloucestershire needs a new approach to waste. We want an approach that will bring new business and new jobs to the area, not an expensive white elephant.

"If the county council has its way we could be paying for it until 2040. A recent Gloucester survey showed me that 80 per cent of local residents are against incineration."

The purchase of Javelin Park also attracted criticism from the county council's Liberal Democrat Jeremy Hilton. He said: "This decision by the cabinet at Shire Hall confirms our worst fears. The council is hell-bent on building an incinerator in Gloucestershire. They have already taken the £92m sweetener from the Government and soon it will be impossible to stop the plan to burn the county's waste rather than recycle it.

"To make the incinerator economically viable the council will have to import waste from surrounding counties and burn their rubbish as well. There's no plan to improve the recycling rates of rubbish in Gloucestershire and now the council has committed millions of taxpayers' money to their incinerator plan."

But Gloucestershire County Council said the purchase of the site did not mean it would definitely be used as a waste facility.

Councillor Stan Waddington said: "Securing the land at Javelin Park means that we can comply fully with the Government's requirements for funding an alternative to landfill in Gloucestershire. It is good news for local taxpayers as it means we can secure £92m of PFI credits from central Government, which was conditional on the council owning a site."

No final decision will be made on whether Javelin Park will be used or what sort of facilities will be built until 2011.