Seanad debates
Wednesday, 5 February 2003
Protection of the Environment Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed).
I do not want to reopen the debate on incineration other than to say we will have made a major mistake if we end up with an incinerator in every region. A number of us were in Florida recently and visited a county where they are still operating landfill; their intention is to continue doing so. Unlike Ireland, they have made provision for landfill for the next 50 to 60 years and it may be of interest to the Minister that this method of disposal costs $33 per tonne. They say they make a small profit, even though they are only obliged to break even. The neighbouring county is using incineration and the corresponding cost of disposal is $80 per tonne. They made the point that the incineration process had an almost insatiable appetite for waste. Therefore, the environmental provisions – which the Minister is rightly going to pursue – of prevention, minimisation, recycling and reuse tend to get a lower priority. That is because if they fail to supply sufficient waste, the local authority must pay a penalty for the shortfall.
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