A £275 million revolution in the way our household waste is dealt with has been launched in High Wycombe, but those opposed say the plans are “madness”.

A new waste transfer station in Booker will take rubbish in bulk to an incinerator in the north of the county where it will be converted into electricity - ending years of speculation over burning the rubbish in south Bucks.

Bucks County Council says the move will save taxpayers £150m over the life of the contract, which will be ploughed into the county's beleaguered children services, and supporting vulnerable adults.

The waste collected at the new High Heavens station will help generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 36,000 homes – the size of the entire Chiltern district – and will save taxpayers more than £150m over the duration of the 30-year contract.

And BCC say the project will see a third of all waste turned into energy, where it would have previously been buried in landfill.

Warren Whyte, Council Cabinet Member for Planning and Environment at BCC, described the opening as “a significant step” to reducing the county’s reliance on landfill.

However Brian Pearce - councillor for Booker – is worried about a massive influx of traffic and thinks that the landfill site on Oxford Road in Beaconsfield would have been more suitable.

Mr Pearce said: “It is going to be an absolute nightmare.

“They say it needs to be where most waste is generated but I think that’s an excuse. The facility in Beaconsfield is a better option.

“The current plan is madness, there are lots of houses between the site and the junction onto the M40. I can see traffic being a real issue.”

The new station will be joined by a similar centre in Amersham currently awaiting planning permission, and forms part of waste-management company FCC Environment’s 30-year £275m contract with BCC, which says it will save £150m on previous costs over the same period.

BCC said around 110,000 tonnes of waste was sent to landfill last year, which could have been treated at the Energy from Waste centre, costing them £11 million in disposal costs.

The council also confirmed that residents would see no change to their service and the savings made from the EfW facility will be used to support “vital” services.

Others have criticised the plan, which will see lorries leaving the site for Greatmoor, north of Aylesbury.

Chesham resident and railway historian John Healey said: “It seems absurd that they are creating this energy-saving facility but at the same time they are using all these lorries.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that we are ignoring a perfectly good rail service. Why is road transport the order of the day?”

BCC admit there will be some additional movements from vehicles coming onto the site but say “a significant number” are there already and conditions limit the number of HGVs dropping off waste at the site each day to 57.

Subject to planning permission, a similar waste transfer station will open in Amersham but a date is yet to be confirmed.