Sir, - With reference to Dr Conchur O Bradaigh's letter of January 18th, you will understand that the Royal Danish Embassy does not want to be part of an internal Irish dispute concerning waste disposal. I have, however, the hope that the remarkable advances made by Denmark in this field can be of inspiration to Ireland.
In 1999 Denmark produced a total of 12,233,000 tons of waste. Of this mountain 7,815,000 tons were recycled (64 per cent), 2,929,000 tons were incinerated (24 per cent) and 1,472,000 tons (12 per cent) were deposited in landfills. Our achievements in recycling are higher for industrial and commercial waste than for domestic waste. About 60 per cent of our domestic waste is incinerated, but then domestic waste counts for only 24 per cent of total waste. Concerning the incinerators, Denmark will soon have more than fulfilled the new strict EU regulations on dioxin.
In the hope he will find it interesting, I will forward a copy of the Danish Government's ambitious Waste Management Plan 1998-2004 to Dr O Bradaigh.
With reference to the Irish debate on how to deal with BSE, I should add that Danish Specified Risk Material is incinerated in cement kilns where the temperature is so ultra-high that the protein prion is totally destroyed. This concludes my participation in the debate. - Yours, etc.,
K. E. Tygesen, Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy, Dublin.