Irish Times - 03/09/2007
Gormley to consider levy on incineration

Minister for the Environment John Gormley said today he may introduce a levy on incineration as part of a review of national waste policy.

Speaking at an Environmental Protection Agency conference in Dublin today, Mr Gormley said he also wanted to examine the issue of "put-or-pay" clauses in contracts between waste management firms and local authorities.

Under these clauses a local authority is obliged to provide a certain volume of waste to the incinerator, and if it fails to do so it must compensate the waste firm.

Mr Gormley admitted that changes to this regime could make incinerators less financially attractive for developers. However, he said the existing policy gave undue incentive to for these facilities to be used.

The Minister said he hoped the review would be completed before the end of next year.

John Ahern of Indaver Ireland, which has planning approval for incinerators in counties Meath and county Cork, disagreed with the Minister's view that incineration and landfill are the same.

According to Mr Ahern, incinerators limit greenhouse gases and that to try and that to try and charge the same fee on waste collectors for using an incinerator as landfill would be illegal under EU law.

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