The campaign group claimed that the Chineham incinerator would emit large quantities of dioxins that could cause cancer.
Police said they were negotiating with the protesters, some of whom had chained themselves to equipment.
Greenpeace said protesters had also occupied the roof of one of the buildings. A team of climbers had set up camp in helicopter cargo nets suspended from the framework of an unfinished building, while another activist had occupied the top of a nearby crane.
Anger
The site invasion sparked an angry response from the Environmental Services Association, whose chief executive Dirk Hazell accused the Government of failing to prevent a “climate of lawlessness”.
Mr Hazell said: “As it was known Greenpeace planned action today, the ESA wrote to the Home Secretary in April asking the Government to uphold the rule of law.
“We have not even received acknowledgement of our letter. The Government's duty is to uphold the rule of law and provide the political leadership the UK needs to attain a higher standard of environmental performance.
“ESA's members are, for as far ahead as anyone can predict, willing to invest up to 1 billion annually in more sustainable infrastructure. By appearing to tolerate a climate of lawlessness, the Government is undermining both future British jobs and also the UK's future environmental performance.”
Speech
Greenpeace is due tomorrow to make its controversial appearance at the Institute of Wastes Management conference in Torbay, where the organisation has been invited to send a speaker, despite protests from some contractors.
The institute condemned the disruption at Chineham, but said it “remains committed to a policy of dialogue rather than exclusion”, and hoped delegates would become “actively involved in the debate”.
An IWM statment said that it, “once again reiterates its disappointment over the actions of Greenpeace, and has significant concerns that they continue to choose to present their views in a highly irresponsible and illegal manner.”
A Greenpeace statement claimed that 43 new incinerators would be built in the UK by 2010.
Greenpeace incineration campaigner Mark Strutt said: “People from across the country have come here to say enough is enough. We don't want more incinerators to poison our food with cancer causing chemicals.
“We must ban incinerators now. We are already at a stage where the government is warning that half of Britain’s babies and toddlers take in more dioxins than is safe.
Mr Hazell said that the Greenpeace statement, “grossly distorts the relatively benign environmental impact of modern waste management facilities”.
Onyx's Hampshire Waste Services director John Collis said that construction work on the energy from waste plant had been suspended to ensure the safety of the protestors.
The company said that, when completed, it would supply in excess of 8mw of electricity.
The waste concerned was at present being transported long distances as there are no suitable landfills in northern Hampshire, it pointed out.
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