AN environmental campaigner and prospective MP has expressed her enthusiastic support for plans to use smelly fumes to grow fresh fruit and vegetables.
Dr Roz Savage MBE, the Liberal Democrats candidate for the new South Cotswolds MP seat, recently visited Crapper and Sons Landfill Ltd's 170-acre recycling centre near Royal Wootton Bassett to find out more about its Sustain Initiative.
The landfill company has come up with an eco-friendly idea that it hopes will help feed the county and fight climate change.
It plans to use methane generated by the landfill on Brinkworth Road to power and heat inflatable greenhouses onsite to produce affordable healthy food, such as tomatoes and salad leaves, all year round.
If approved, the concept would create up to 130 new jobs and potentially become a blueprint for other landfill sites around the UK to follow.
Dr Savage said: "Our environment is in real trouble.
"My concern for the environment is why I became the first woman to row solo across three oceans, using my adventures to raise awareness and inspire action.
"Since then, global temperatures have continued to rise.
"We have all seen the consequences locally in heatwaves, storms and floods.
"We have to take fast and imaginative action like that proposed by Crapper and Sons to tackle global warming.
"Its Super-Midden project would be a significant local contribution to tackling that.
"It has my complete and enthusiastic support.
"Currently rubbish is buried in landfill sites, and the resulting methane emissions are simply burnt off, with no community, commercial or environmental benefit.
"Meanwhile, importing so much of our food creates a huge carbon footprint.
"I want to see a much more sustainable Wiltshire.
"This is a really exciting project, an innovative approach to growing good food, providing jobs and upcycling waste into something useful, and with open and inclusive consultation with nearby residents."
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