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S. E. A. Statements

Derry City Council needs to rule out incineration as part of waste management

Thursday 6th April 2006

Ahead of tonight's public meeting on the North West Waste Management Plan, the Socialist Environmental Alliance is calling on Derry City Council to follow through on its promises to the electorate and rule out any use of incineration as a way of meeting its targets.

SEA spokesperson, Colm Bryce, said "the City Council is well aware of the level of opposition to incineration. The willingness of the people of Derry to recycle when the facilities to do so are provided has been shown by the massive rise over recent years in the proportion of our waste that is recycled. The problem is, as the SEA had always warned, that the Council is not being ambitious enough in its vision of how waste can be managed and, crucially, reduced.

"Officials and even some Councillors may think that we will accept incineration as part of the North West plan as long as the incinerator is not in our back yard. They are wrong. If we accept that some of our waste goes to a regional incinerator, we are unlikely to see the kind of reduction in waste and provision of recycling facilities that is needed to protect the environment for the future.

Mr. Bryce continued "the SEA is clear that the 2013 and 2020 landfill diversion targets can be met through a combination of recycling and composting, but only if targets are set that are ambitious enough and if the kerbside collections are started that allows us to recycle more. The heaviest waste that we send to landfill is glass, yet here we are in 2006 and we still lack locally accessible facilities to recycle glass.

"Whatever the cost of setting up facilities to allow us to recycle more, it is cheaper than allowing our environment to be ruined by landfill and incinerators. It is also cheaper than the millions that will have to be paid in fines to the EU if we do not meet the landfill targets.

"Crucially", says the SEA, "there are no clear plans to reduce the amount of waste being generated through unnecessary packaging. In many countries, MacDonald's burgers are wrapped only in greaseproof paper, greatly reducing the amount of polystyrene waste. Large supermarkets create much unnecessary waste in the average home waste bin - they need to be targeted in the Plan.

At this public meeting, we need to demand once again that incineration is ruled out as an option for dealing with waste and that the council embark on a comprehensive strategy of reducing, reusing and recycling waste which WILL meet the 2013 and 2020 directives.





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