Incinerating in Ireland

	(Left to right): Paraic James (Regional Group chairman-elect), Ciaran Cuffe TD (Green Party), Andy Rous (outgoing chairman), John Ahern (Indaver)

Ireland currently has no hazardous waste incineration facility, and exports an increasing volume of such waste to other EU countries.

This is clearly not a sustainable option, but what should be done about it? There are plans to build an electricity-generating incinerator, but unsurprisingly there are objections, not least from affected locals and the Green Party.

To help inform this debate, the SCI Republic of Ireland Regional Group invited both Indaver (an international integrated waste management company, based in Belgium, and which is expected to build the Irish facility) and the Green Party to present their arguments for and against, at a public meeting following the Regional Group AGM on 6 April 2005.

Indaver was represented by Dr John Ahern, its Managing Director in Ireland, while the Green Party's spokesman was Dail member Ciaran Cuffe.

The EU's waste management pyramid shows the smallest proportion devoted to prevention, with increasing amounts spent on minimisation, re-use, recycling, energy recovery and disposal, in order

Both sides made reference to the EU's waste management pyramid (illustrated). Indaver argued that all the activities had to be carried out in parallel - that efforts to prevent or minimise the generation of hazardous waste were essential, but in no way reduced the urgency of dealing with current production.

Conversely, the Greens maintained that the investment at the bottom end of the pyramid would be far better spent at the top, and that building an incinerator would encourage the generation of hazardous waste, much as building new roads encourages the use of private cars as opposed to public transport.

Discussing fears about dioxin emissions, John Ahern pointed out that a modern, efficient incinerator would typically emit only 13 mg of dioxins per year, and that in Ireland, garden fires, faulty central heating boilers and other uncontrolled combustion generate about forty times this much. Ciaian Cuffe agreed that the health issues with a modern incinerator weren't at the top of his list of concerns, but that even modern facilities could go wrong at times.

A lively debate ensued, but did anybody change their mind on the issue? Probably not. But at least those who made the effort to listen to both sides will have come away with a better understanding of an increasingly important topic.

David Birkett