Letter : Burning of paper helps planet too

Sir: In his article promoting environmental realism ("Greenpeace, please grow up!", 26 September), Richard D North was himself guilty of peddling at least one mischievous piece of misinformation.

The statement "when it [the IIED report] claims that recycling paper often will not be the best environmental option, while municipal incineration with energy recovery may well be" implies that the latter practice is not itself a valuable form of recycling.

Municipal incineration is environmentally beneficial in reducing fossil fuel demand as well as land-fill space, and still requires paper to be collected wherever possible. The message from the media should be that turning paper into more paper is only one form of recycling one substance, and that the recycling of any others is, in principal, beneficial.

Dr JAMES M R ORR

York