"Waste wars" all over the world were fought like this. That's the view of Dr Conchur O Bradaigh, spokesman for Galway for a Safe Environment (GSE), who is convinced the recent crisis over disposal of BSE cattle carcasses is the latest round in the conflict over thermal treatment.
The Government is "shamelessly" using the BSE issue to push through plans for incineration, in spite of the fact that so many local authorities have rejected the option, he says. The truth is not being told, in his view: even the EU Environment Commissioner, Margot Wall strom, has stated that incinerators "are not the answer to waste management".
He quotes from a letter she sent last September to Mr Brian Crowley, a Munster MEP: "The environmental impact of incineration is significant, given that, by incinerating waste, pollutants are only transformed - for example, they are concentrated in the incineration ashes, which in turn must be disposed of.
"Some pollutants which are present in waste - such as heavy metals - cannot be destroyed. Furthermore, incineration plants which operate in full respect of air and water emission requirements are by definition extremely expensive. Thus, in order to be profitable, they need to rely on a significant and constant inflow of waste . . ."
Dr O Bradaigh also refers to another development at EU level - a recent European Parliament vote which disqualified incineration from renewable energy status.
The British government had been trying to force incineration into the new EU Renewable Energy Directive, as it wanted electricity generated by waste incinerators to form the backbone of its targets for renewable energy.
An engineer and lecturer at NUI Galway, Dr O Bradaigh was one of a group Aine Suttle, which led the successful campaign in Galway city and county to reject the Connacht draft waste management plan last year.
"Building an incinerator now would take five to six years, even if permitted in the morning, and that won't solve the BSE carcass situation."
He questions the value of the option. A study by the National Academy of Sciences in the US, published last March, found that scrapie, a version of BSE, was so heat resistant that it survived 600 degrees. As an engineer, he says mixed waste is "a nightmare to burn and impossible to control". And expensive, he stresses.
"The most recent technology would cost at least £150 million, yet the Government is deliberately understating the cost - and the fear is that if it is approved, we would get the cheapest and least reputable technology."
Fear of dioxin contamination was the issue on which GSE fought its campaign, collecting signatures of support from one in three residents.
It may have been assisted by the fact that Galway was the only county where proposed sites for a thermal treatment plant were identified before the local authority voted.
The GSE is critical of the environmental impact assessment carried out by the consultants for the Connacht plan.
"It only looks at a number of specified criteria, and ignores dioxins and heavy metals. In fact, dioxins aren't mentioned throughout the text, although they were in the initial strategy document given to the local authorities," Dr O Bradaigh claims.
The stance of the Irish Farmers' Association was significant, he says. In county after county IFA branches voiced opposition to incineration. This was due to the dioxin factor and concern over contamination of the food chain. "People think that if they don't live near one of these plants, they won't be affected. But dioxins know no boundaries when it comes to entering the food chain."
Incineration also stops recycling, he says - and he quotes from consultants who advocated it here. European states which incinerate most do the least recycling, he says - Denmark, for instance, incinerates 60 per cent and recycles 20 per cent, whereas Holland incinerates 26 per cent of waste and recycles 43 per cent.
The GSE looks to the model of New Zealand where up to two-thirds of waste is recovered and sold. Its goal is a "zero waste-to-landfill" strategy, and it believes there is no excuse for communities not to cut waste by 50 per cent immediately on introduction of such an initiative.
It has sought meetings with the Mayor of Galway and Galway Corporation's waste subcommittee to propose an alternative waste management plan. He dismisses the notion that Irish people will never recycle. "If a system is set up, such as that on a pilot basis in Renmore, Galway, at the moment, people will work it. And if we can't be trusted to recycle, can we be trusted to manage incinerators in any case?"
The incineration debate is similar to the nuclear debate of the 1970s in his view. "Then, people were told that the lights would go out if we didn't have a nuclear power plant. There was no mention of the risk. Similarly, this thermal treatment industry, which has an appalling track record worldwide, initially denied that the procedure caused dioxins at all."