PLANS for big changes in the way that North Yorkshire will deal with its waste over the next 25 years have taken a step forward.

The executive of the county council agreed yesterday that planning applications should be prepared for transfer stations that will play a vital role in efforts to cut the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites.

Seven transfer stations, where waste will be sorted and bulked for easier transport, are planned in the Craven, Richmondshire, Harrogate, Hambleton, Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby districts.

Some of the projected sites are already used for waste disposal, but if planning applications are successful, the county council will make arrangements with landowners for the centres to be leased to companies operating green technology.

Gordon Gresty, director of business and environmental services, said households in North Yorkshire and York produced more than 500,000 tonnes of rubbish every year.

He said: "Well over two thirds of it is buried in holes in the ground. If we continue to produce such quantities and bury it in landfill, the cost will be £1.6bn over the next 25 years.

"That is because the cost of landfill is increasing, partly as a result of commercial pressures but mainly because of tougher laws and Government targets and penalties designed to encourage recycling."

Mr Gresty said penalties of up to £492m could be imposed over 25 years unless 75 per cent of waste was diverted from landfill by 2013. A third of the waste produced was already recycled but by 2020 the aim was to increase this to about 50 per cent.

"Despite this, there will always be waste that needs to be disposed of, and it has to be decided how best to treat this," he said.

"The county council has made a case to the Government for financial support to deliver technology to deal with waste other than in landfill.

"To support that technology, there is a requirement for a suitable infrastructure, including transfer stations. We are going out to the market to ask industry to come back with potential alternative solutions."