Stop the Cardiff Bay Incinerator

LIB DEM COUNCIL TO APPROVE INCINERATOR?

Members of Butetown RESPECT report that it looks likely that the LibDem mafia who run Cardiff Council will approve plans by two corporations to build a massive incinerator in Cardiff Bay. The incinerator will collect rubbish from across South Wales and sabotage efforts to increase recycling and composting. RESPECT believes that waste should be dealt with in the areas where it is produced rather than being transported across Wales and increasing our carbon footprint.

NO TO INCINERATORS!

RESPECT says no to incinerators, the aim should be the full recycling of waste: In Flanders, local government recycles and composts over two-thirds of waste, in Cardiff, the LibDems manage only 12%. Incineration involves burning paper and plastics that should be recycled. Contrary to myth this does not generate renewable energy because most of the fuel comes from plastics which are made from oil. RESPECT campaigns for a rapid transition to a non-fossil fuel based, low carbon economy.

INCINERATORS LEAD TO MORE POLLUTION

Stopping the Cardiff Incinerator will be a blow against the government and for the planet: New Labour claims it wants to use incinerators as a “green” way to deal with the amount of waste produced in Britain. An environment white paper due to be published next month suggests that the proportion of burned waste could rise from 9 percent to 25 percent in the next 15 years.

It urges making “energy from waste”, a process in which incinerators are used to power electricity generation plants. But incinerators are extremely inefficient generators of energy, producing more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than a coal-fired power station.

This will increase the threat of global warming as well as putting the health of those who live near incinerators at risk.

REPORTS FROM UK ANTI-INCINERATOR CONFERENCE

RESPECT members in South Wales attended the UK anti-incinerator conference last year.

A representative of the Guildford anti-incinerator campaign in Surrey said, “We need to link all the disparate campaigns around Britain. Even if you stop one particular incinerator the real aim must be to make the government think again about how we deal with the waste we produce. And about how we produce the energy we need in a sustainable way.”

Around 9 percent of municipal waste in England is currently incinerated, with the West Midlands burning the most, sending 31 percent of the region’s waste to incinerators.

Around 72 percent of waste is currently sent to landfill sites, but incinerators are not the answer to reducing this figure. Incinerator operators need a constant level of waste in order to keep the fires burning. To meet this demand local authorities abandon recycling and waste reduction plans.

But the main concern surrounds pollutants found in the ash left in the incinerator and emitted from the chimney. These include dioxins, acid gases, nitrogen oxide, heavy metals and particulates. These are suspected of causing cancer.

Although most incinerators in Britain are used to generate electricity, it does not save energy in the long run because the waste is not recycled. This means more raw materials have to be produced to replace the burnt material.

RESPECT ACTIVISTS IN WALES LEAD FIGHT BACK

RESPECT member Huw Pudner was one of the founders of the Stop The Incinerator Campaign which was set up to oppose the incinerator in Neath, South Wales.

Huw said, “The company running the Crymlyn Burrows giant incinerator and waste treatment plant has gone bankrupt.

This is only the latest sorry chapter in a long running saga of political and environmental incompetence involving the Neath Port Talbot council and its private partners HLC which was responsible for the running of the plant. It has gone bust owing some £40 million.

Ever since the plant was proposed six years ago it has run into a storm of protest from residents and environmentalists. The incinerator has been a fiasco. It was unloved, unwanted and an affront to those who have to live in its shadow.

Before it was officially opened it was destroyed by fire and it has contaminated local houses and the nearby beach. Now the company that runs it has gone to the wall.

The Neath branch of RESPECT believes that it should be closed down permanently and its workers employed on environmental projects in the area.”

HEALTH RISK

According to Dr Jerry Thompson ,an activist from the Slough anti-incinerator campaign in Buckinghamshire, their are huge health risks associated with incinerators:

“The report on the Sint Niklaas incinerator in Belgium is the only complete study ever done on incinerators.

Although the proposed incinerator at Colnbrook in this area will have a lower dioxin output than that at Sint Niklaas, the fact that it would be nine times larger, will emit higher volumes of particulates and will foolishly be allowed to incinerate radioactive material gives little cause for comfort.

Children are more vulnerable to the pollutants produced by incinerators, breathing in more air than adults relative to their size, and are likely to be the first to suffer from adverse effects. The foetus and newborn are uniquely vulnerable.

The report on the Sint Niklaas incinerator showed that blood and glandular cancers appeared in children about five years after the incinerator started operating. This preceded the increase in adult cancers by seven years. Adults cancers showed a five-fold increase over 20 years.

The Sint Niklaas study also showed an excess of autism, hyperactivity, allergies, asthma, repeated infections and congenital defects.”