Bill to ban incineration is presented to Dail

A waste management Bill that would ban incineration and enshrine a zero waste strategy in Irish law, was introduced in the Dáil last night, but rejected by the Minister for the Environment as lacking "political maturity".

The Waste Management (Amendment) Bill, the first legislation to be introduced in the Dáil by the Green Party, includes targets for implementing waste minimisation, and aims to "ensure local councillors are responsible as well as accountable for waste policy for their administrative areas", the party's leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, told the Dáil.

However, the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, des- cribed the Bill as unrealistic and said it was "wedded to the soft option, the publicity stunt, the elevation of woolly aspiration above actual achievement".

He believed the Bill would lead to a further round of planning controversy as well as disrupt the ongoing implementation of the regional waste management plans adopted last year.

The Green Party, which was able to introduce the legislation because of its membership of the Dáil's "technical group", stressed its belief that there was no need for incineration.

Mr Sargent said technology had moved on and "alkaline hydrolysis, an approved technology in the US" was soon to be approved in the EU. On this basis incineration was not required for BSE.

He added that a "zero waste strategy will be the most enlightened path a country can take to deal with waste. It is as enlightened as looking for zero road tragedies and road accidents. The Minister knows more than most how difficult it is to attain that, but it does not stop him setting targets seeking zero road deaths."

Mr Dan Boyle (Green Party, Cork South-Central) that said Ireland produces the highest amount of waste per head of population than any other EU member State.

He hit out at what he called the Government's "whole hog approach" and claimed the State operated on the basis that industrialised areas, such as Ringaskiddy in Cork, should be the "receptacle" for all waste from surrounding areas.

Mr Bernard Allen, Fine Gael's environment spokesman, said he believed that policies that looked on waste as a resource had to be expanded and promoted at all times in preference to incineration.

The debate on the Bill resumes tonight.