Regional plans to address acute waste management problems in the north-east region and north Munster, which recommend an integrated approach including building two large incinerators, are to go on public display next month, it has been confirmed. Local authorities intend to adopt the plans after three months of consultation.
Meath, Louth, Cavan and Monaghan have joined together while Kerry, Limerick and Clare have adopted a similar approach in an attempt to resolve a growing waste crisis. Both sets of plans are due go on display by the middle of next month, according to Mr P.J. Rudden, chief executive of the consultant engineers M.C. O'Sullivan, which advised many of the authorities involved.
Similar plans for Connacht went on display this month, while the midlands plan will be published in February. All the plans entail high charges for waste disposal.
Many local authorities had produced waste management plans for their counties, but the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, asked counties to get together to resolve their waste problems jointly in view of their scale; particularly because of a 90 per cent dependence on landfill and the inevitable closure of many badly run or poorly located landfills due to tightening Environmental Protection Agency and EU regulations.
While the regional approaches include highly ambitious targets for waste recycling, reuse and minimisation, and allow for increased charges, proposals to include waste-to-energy plants (incinerators) are likely to meet considerable opposition.
Notwithstanding this, Mr Rudden said, there were indications of a sea change in the attitudes of local authorities and the public. This was reflected in growing acceptance of the merits of an integrated approach and indications of an ability to resolve even the most intractable disputes, such as over landfills.
The two plans do not identify where their incinerators would be located but they are likely to be near larger population centres which generate the larger volumes of waste. Accordingly, Limerick city is most likely to have a plant. In the north-east, Dundalk and Navan are the largest population centres.
In a separate report commissioned jointly by the Department of the Environment and officials administering EU Cohesion Funds, however, possible locations were listed while detailed site investigations were not carried out. The report investigated the suitability of options being considered in dealing with the Republic's waste, including some of the most advanced forms of waste-to-energy technology.
A site in each county in the north-east was provisionally considered in this report; notably Dundalk, Navan, Kingscourt and Carrickmacross (in analysis of the mid-west region, it cited the possibility of Limerick city, Shannon, Foynes and Nenagh).
But Mr Rudden said the regional plans about to go on display reflected their approach to waste management without confirming particular sites. In the north-east's case, it had to address a particular problem due to its generation of high levels of agricultural waste, notably poultry litter and mushroom composts.
These could be disposed of effectively by some of the emerging incineration technologies such as gasification and pyrolysis.
