Incinerator key to consultants' Dublin waste control plan

The construction of some form of incinerator - or "thermal treatment plant", to use the words of the MCCK consultants - is one of the key elements of the waste management strategy they have devised for 21st-century Dublin.

Though they admit the public has "mixed views" on incineration, with some people "unsure about the possible environmental problems from emissions", the consultants come down strongly in favour of thermal treatment of municipal waste.

According to them, it is a preferred option "to achieve large bulk reduction in final waste volumes having regard to the very limited availability of landfill capacity in the region and the high public resistance to new landfill development".

They describe it as "a more desirable option" than landfill, provided it includes energy recovery and hazardous wastes are diverted from the process. They insist it would also reduce the need for landfill without compromising their recycling targets.

They recommend the provision of an incinerator with a capacity in the region of 500,000 tonnes a year. No preferred location is identified by the consultants, nor do they endorse the £113 million project proposed for Goddamendy, north of Blanchardstown.

Though Mr P.J. Rudden, of M.C. O'Sullivan - the Irish consulting engineers in MCCK - said he did not wish to comment on "commercial projects", the report implies the relatively remote Goddamendy site may not be the best location.

"Optimal location of a thermal treatment facility can maximise energy recovery including the use of heat for industrial use (e.g. drying), potential use of heat in new residential/commercial development and surplus electricity production," it says.

The Goddamendy project (a joint venture by the ESB and Foster Wheeler, a US incineration company) would not use the energy derived from burning waste to fuel a district heating scheme; instead, it would generate for the national grid.

The report notes that thermal treatment with a reduction in landfill, which emits large quantities of methane, can reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the resulting atmospheric emissions from incineration would be "below EU threshold levels."

In response to questions from community groups at yesterday's launch of the report, Mr Kim Maskell, of the City of Copenhagen Environmental Protection Agency, estimated the emission of dioxins from the plant would be 0.1 grammes per year.

Mr Bjorn Jacobsen, of COWI, a Danish firm of consulting engineers which is also part of MCCK, said inert residues from the plant could be used as a gravel substitute.

The report recommends that any incineration plant should not become operational until 2004 - firstly, to allow the various recycling elements of the strategy to be put in place in advance and, secondly, to permit public debate.

Mr Rudden said the consultants were not fixed on what type of "thermal treatment" plant was preferable. The options included straightforward incineration or methods which exclude oxygen.

The report describes waste management planning as a "very dynamic process", with new technologies to be constantly considered. And while it covers a long-term horizon of 15 to 20 years, there are also short and medium-term objectives.

Though it aims to cut landfill's share dramatically from 80 per cent at present to just 16 per cent by 2004, the strategy makes it clear that there is an "urgent need for the immediate provision of unbaled waste capacity", probably by extending Balleally, near Lusk, Co Dublin.

Even if the controversial scheme to extend the life of this dump for another 20 years does not go ahead, it says the options for siting a new landfill facility for Dublin other than in the north county area are "practically nonexistent".

The report says Balleally is now by far the largest landfill site in Dublin, with the volume of waste handled currently standing at 1.3 million tonnes a year - up from just 100,000 tonnes when it first opened in 1971, mainly as a result of Dunsink's closure in 1996.

It says there is an "urgent need" to divert construction and demolition waste from Balleally, where it currently accounts for over half of the volume, to make more room for household and commercial waste and to encourage its recycling for readily usable products.

The report recommends the provision of facilities in the north and south county areas for the reception, sorting and recycling of such waste as an "urgent priority", with the local authorities making use of recycled material for roads and footpaths.

The report also says that "maximum utilisation of the Arthurstown landfill at Kill [Co Kildare] is necessary in the short term". Its capacity is limited to 3.6 million tonnes and planning conditions restrict it to accepting only baled municipal waste for environmental reasons.

Since the only baling station, at Ballymount, near Tallaght, has a capacity of 180,000 tonnes a year, the study recommends the provision of another baling station at Ballyogan.