Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 185: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the research and development on modern non-burn alternative treatments for hazardous and other waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16445/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I am aware of a number of waste management technologies being developed and tested. Some, such as mechanical biological treatment, involve pre-treatment of waste to produce refuse derived fuel, although it should be noted that the fuel is ultimately burned. There are also interesting prospects from gasification, thermolysis and pyrolysis. Waste cooking oils can be converted to fuel and at least one company in Ireland is working on this on a commercial basis. Stabilisation techniques are becoming recognised as an economic and environmentally sound way of dealing with certain types of hazardous wastes.

Overall, there is significant ongoing research and development on a variety of waste treatment technologies for many different types of waste. However, many of the non-burn treatments proposed for municipal waste are as yet unproven in terms of operations of scale and are not commercially available. My Department is monitoring technological developments and, as and when processes become environmentally and economically viable and reliable, I will consider how they can be incorporated into waste management policy at a national level.