Campaigners wearing gas masks are to show their opposition to plans for a rubbish-burning incinerator by the M1.

Friends of the Earth and members of Shepshed Against Incineration Group are to gather outside County Hall, in Glenfield, on Tuesday.

They will lobby council cabinet members, who will be discussing the county's long-term plans to deal with its rubbish.

Biffa wants to burn 300,000 tonnes of rubbish a year and use the heat to create enough electricity to power 42,000 homes at Newhurst Quarry, Shepshed.

Leicester Friends of the Earth spokesman Malcolm Hunter said: "The incinerator industry is long established and has a lot of lobbying power but incinerating waste is dirty and wasteful.

"Better and more modern alternatives exist and we urge the county council to think again and reject incineration as an option."

Biffa is one of three firms bidding for an £86 million county council contract to dispose of the county's rubbish between 2015 and 2040.

Rival bids have been submitted by Veolia and a partnership between John Laing and United Utilities.

Details of those bids have not been disclosed and the cabinet will be discussing them behind closed doors on Tuesday.

County Hall said the reports contained sensitive information.