Since last May, when the Belgian company Indaver announced plans to build two incinerators, one for toxic waste and one for municipal waste, at Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour, local opposition groups have been forming to fight the proposals.
Tomorrow, at a press launch, they will come together under an umbrella body - the Cork Alliance for a Safe Environment. Indaver will submit a formal planning application to Cork County Council before the end of next month. An oral hearing on the plan is certain to be held.
One of the problems for the opposition groups is the mountain of evidence which exists both in favour of incineration and against it. Even in cities such as Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium, where incineration works very efficiently as one part of a total approach to waste management, organisations such as Greenpeace are vehemently opposed to it.
The lesson that Belgian towns and cities can teach centres of population like Cork is that waste has to go somewhere and that individuals, every bit as much as local authorities, must take responsibility for segregating their waste to make it more amenable to disposal.
As with Cork, the Belgian towns had to face up to the prospect of landfill running out. Despite the opposition of Greenpeace, the local authorities there decided to adopt incineration as an essential element in the overall approach. In Cork, the debate is likely to go on for some time before a coherent policy acceptable to a broad cross-section of the various communities is formulated.
Tonight Dr Paul Johnston, a toxicologist who co-authored the Greenpeace report entitled Incineration and Human Health will address a public meeting at the Carrigaline Court Hotel in Cork.
The lecture, Incineration - the Consequences and the Alternatives, will also be given tomorrow night at the Commodore Hotel in Cobh. Dr Johnston has had an input into many controversies in the region, including the proposal by the pharmaceutical firm Merrell Dow to locate in east Cork.
Members of the various concerned communities from around the harbour will be present at the meetings. For its part, Indaver is continuing a public consultation process and has pledged that the proposed incinerators will conform to the highest international standards.