John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

That is the inconsistency that I have to deal with from members of the Deputy's party. I do not know where they are coming from in the matter of waste management.

The figures are very clear. We can treat 1.3 million tonnes through the MBT process. I have been to Austria, where I saw how MBT can work. It is not a high-tech solution, as is often thought — it is actually quite low-tech. Black bag or grey bin waste is sorted and compostable materials are removed. Recyclable waste is also removed as, unfortunately, many people continue to put recyclable waste into the grey bin. In fact, through MBT an effective recycling rate of about 80% can be achieved. That is the point of it. These MBT sites should be situated at landfill sites, which is how it is done in Austria. After separation of the components I mentioned, we can obtain a refuse-derived fuel. That is the point I was making in my interviews with regard to the 400,000 tonnes of waste for thermal treatment. When I mention thermal treatment I am talking about co-firing or co-incineration. As the waste can be used in cement kilns, I have already had discussions with some cement factories about this. It makes sense and it is the way to go.

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