Oxfordshire County Council has received 1,000 objections to incineration as a method of waste disposal before any plans for rubbish burners have been tabled.

The authority has been forced to admit how many people had signed petitions or submitted written objections against incinerators as an alternative to landfill, as the topic hots up.

The admission comes just a few days after County Hall said incinerators would only be built in Oxfordshire if they were safe and able to produce electricity.

Consultation on any preferred alternatives to burying waste at landfill, which have to be in place by 2009, has not started because none have been chosen.

On Tuesday, Green county councillor Sushila Dhall tabled a question to Roger Belson, the cabinet member for sustainable development, in which she asked how many petitions (including signatures), letters and postcards of opposition to incineration has the county council received.

A tabled answer read: "We have received approximately 1,000 signatures from the one petition, letters and postcards."

Oxford Friends of the Earth estimates the total as at least 1,700 objections to the use of incineration in Oxfordshire's future municipal waste strategy (2010-2035).

Andrew Wood, spokesman for Oxford Friends of the Earth, said: "It's time the county council admitted burning millions of tonnes of the Oxfordshire's discarded resources, which we call household waste, is a rubbish idea.

"It is far more energy efficient to recycle materials than to make them anew each time and burn them in an incinerator, including one fitted with some form of electricity generation.

"The toxic ash, pollution and long contracts mean incineration is the worst possible way to treat Oxfordshire's waste. At this stage we are not even talking about a planning application, so 1,000 objections is clear opposition before a decision of any sort has been made."

In 2009 any part of the country that does not meet Government targets for preventing waste going to landfill will be heavily fined. Oxfordshire County Council could be paying fines of £150 a tonne which could mean a total fine of £4.35m in 2009 a levy that is likely to increase year on year.

County councillor Terry Joslin, a member of a scrutiny panel set up to look at waste disposal option, is an advocate of incineration.

He said: "The dioxin problem no longer exists and that has been the only reason in the past to objecting to incinerators there are more dioxins in a garden bonfire or firework display."