The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating 487 sitesacross Ireland which it says may be contaminated with hazardous waste.
In a new national hazardous waste management plan published today theEPA says approximately 2000 sites exist in Ireland which may,because of current or historical activities associated with them, becontaminated.
The agency says a number of these sites may be contaminated because of hazardous and non-hazardous waste disposal activities -84 areknown to be still in operation.
However a spokesman for the EPA said most of the sites did not pose a serious environmental risk and that he envisaged only a few wouldrequire treatment.
He said unlike other European countries Ireland does not have a history of heavy industry and the production of hazardous waste material historically has been low.
A more immediate problem is primary waste from Ireland’s booming construction industry which he said "should not be going into landfill sites."
Ireland is estimated to produce over 400,000 tonnes of hazardouswaste annually, the majority of which is either recycled or disposedof on site. The amount of waste generated is projected to increase 48per cent by 2006.
The principal types of hazardous waste generated in Ireland includeindustrial solvents, waste oils, industrial sludges and lead acid from vehicle batteries.
The EPA’s plan is to create a number of "thermal treatment" plants aswell as "dedicated landfill cells" to deal with the waste.
It says its primary objectives are "to prevent and minimise hazardouswaste and to manage the hazardous waste which cannot be prevented in anenvironmentally-sound manner."
The plan also calls for a special committee to be set up to oversee its implementation at local authority level.
Presently about 85 per cent of hazardous waste is generated byindustry. However a significant proportion - thought in the main tocome from smaller enterprises, farmers and households - is goingunreported.
In recent years Ireland has had to increasingly rely on exporting thewaste in the absence of a national hazardous waste incinerator.
In 1998 Ireland exported 25 per cent of our hazardous waste, mainly to theUK, Netherlands and Germany.
The EPA says the arrangement cannot be assured in the longer term andIreland should "strive for self-sufficiency in recovering anddisposing of its waste".
The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Mr DanWallace, welcomed the EPA’s plan saying: "Safe and efficient wasteinfrastructure is a necessary, indeed critical, support to continuedeconomic growth and we have to move forward with its provision."
