Sir, - In the Southern Report (June 19th), Dick Hogan states that we have no history of community action on waste reduction and recycling. Of course, he's right, because our Government doesn't see fit to do anything about the problem. Are they ashamed to take a leaf out of New Zealand's book where their target is zero waste by 2020.
We can do that too. Indeed, garbage trucks are almost new fangled machines in this country. Many of us still remember when we did not have any or even the need for them. But then along came people like Mr Smurfit who invented and kept us happy with disposable packaging
Dick Hogan mentions Indaver's incinerators in Flanders. Mr Hogan should visit Beverin, where one of the plants is situated in a place where living things seem not to exist for approximately 10km around, where massive piles of uncovered, unprotected toxic ash surround the plant. On their return, at least four visitors on one such inspection suffered severe respiratory problems from this wind-blown ash.
And, unlike radioactivity, which will only last for a few thousand years, dioxins never go away, no matter where you put them - in the soon-to-be phased out landfills or anywhere else. There is no known safe method of disposal.
We all - those of us who care to read about the subject - and the politicians, know or should know that there is no such thing as a "safe" incinerator, sometimes euphemistically called a thermal treatment plant.
In its Environmental Impact Studies submitted with its planning applications, Indaver admits output from the incinerators will include ash with varying degrees of toxicity from mildly toxic to highly toxic, equivalent in weight to almost 40 per cent of the waste incinerated. Similarly, it admits to emitting hundreds of tons of deadly heavy metals, acid gases, greenhouse gases, and the deadliest of all, dioxins and furans.
Experts tell us that output by way of ash and emissions from incinerators is equivalent in weight to more than 10 times the weight of the waste input. For a food-producing country, Ireland currently has the lowest level in the world of dioxins and toxins in its products. Indaver and its likes will change all that.
Like the New Zealanders and others throughout the world, we too should be aware that all waste can be recycled or reduced. Even toxic waste can be eliminated where there is the will to do it.
Indaver, like all companies, is in business to make money. The more waste that you provide them, the more profit it make. Are they worried about Kyoto agreements, POPs, the deadly effects of their dioxins. The answer has to be no!
The politician or person who successfully promotes the zero-waste concept in this country will probably achieve sainthood in years to come. - Yours, etc.,
Paddy Corcoran, Ballydehob, Co Cork.