Dublin Council adopts waste plan

Dublin City Council has decided to adopt a new regional waste management plan which favours incineration as a disposal option and does not impose any charges on domestic waste producers.

The plan was adopted at a meeting last week by 18 votes to 13, with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael councillors voting in favour, Labour split on the issue and opposition from Green Party and independent councillors. An attempt by the Greens to defer the decision was defeated.

The city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, pointed out that Dublin Corporation's current waste management plan expires on December 31st and the council was legally obliged to adopt a new plan to replace it by that date.

He said the draft regional plan, which must be formally adopted by all four Dublin local authorities, had been prepared earlier this year, based on a strategy study done by MCCK, a consortium of Irish and Danish consultants.

The plan was subsequently placed on public exhibition for two months and the final draft had been revised "where necessary" to take account of the submissions received - though he admitted there were still concerns about incineration.

Mr Fitzgerald said these concerns related to the possible harmful effects of dioxins and other emissions and residues arising from the process of "thermal treatment" for waste. "Site location was also seen as a sensitive issue", he added.

He emphasised that the new plan did not commit the corporation to incineration and he promised a full debate on the outcome of a feasibility study, now under way, which would look at all aspects of "thermal treatment".

Earlier, a coalition of environmental groups criticised the plan's saying its emphasis on incineration as a disposal option, as well as the lack of waste charges or measures to prevent or minimise waste made it "extremely flawed."

The Waste Working Group, which includes Earthwatch and Voice, complained that the plan contained "nothing" in terms of setting targets for waste reduction. "It is still looking at ever-increasing waste generation and that is not sustainable."

Its spokesman, Mr Damien Nolan, said in a presentation attended by six councillors that a vote on the plan should be postponed until more information was available. Otherwise, they would be "buying a pig in a poke", he warned.

The plan has already been considered in committee by councillors in South Dublin and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and has yet to be discussed in detail by councillors in Fingal. These three local authorities must also adopt the plan if it is to be put into effect.

The absence of any commitment to impose an annual charge on all households, based on the waste they produce, reflects the imminence of next June's local elections and a fear among councillors that any such move would run the risk of political suicide.