Letter to Carrigdhoun, 17-01-09

Dear Editor,
In past editions of your paper you quote the developer John Ahern of Indaver as saying of the toxic and municipal incineration for which he is seeking planning permission as "nice to have" but a "must have" piece of infrastructure".

A toxic incinerator is never "nice to have" and certainly in Cork Harbour is not a "must have". There are 4 in house incinerators already in the Ringaskiddy area dealing with parmaceutical waste and recovery and 5 companies moving towards clean wind turbines. With such a small amount of toxic waste coming from this area, why should the developer Indaver decide that on this site we are responsible for the toxic waste of the whole country?

Could I suggest that incineration would be the catalyst for the stagnation of our recycling efforts. The aim of a commercial tolling incineration industry would be in having a guaranteed waste stream and its continuous supply would put too much pressure on our policy of prevention and reduce, reuse and recycle. Besides, the large amounts of ash from incineration, demands landfill expansion.
You cannot ignore the economics of incineration, which would seem to need to be subsidised by higher landfill charges to the taxpayer, particularly entering an era of climate change.

What cannot be ignored also is the British Society for Ecological Medicine (Dec 2005) which concluded that no new waste incinerators should be built. “Incinerators are in reality particulate generators, and their use cannot be justified now that it is clear how toxic and carcinogenic fine particulates are.”

There are now viable alternatives, which are healthier, and are kinder to the environment. More importantly a social cost comparison of final waste disposal methods must be assessed as soon as possible.

Objections to this toxic and municipal incinerator which will have a chimney stack 85 meters high have to be sent to An Bord Pleanala before the end of January. The truck traffic movements to the site will be an extra 212 trucks a day.

Mamie Bowen, Glenville, Monkstown,
C/o chair. Monkstpwn Glenbrook, Passage branch of CHASE(www.chaseireland.org)