Waste plant is an ‘incinerationplant’ - DoE acknowledges

However, Alex Attwood - in one of this last pronouncements as the incumbemt waste minister - warned there is no other way to meet our landfill targets and avoid huge EU fines other than by energy recovery solutions.

Back in June Mr Attwood said the proposed plant at Strathfoyle “sees separation of waste, energy from waste with a recyclate at the end of the process. Moreover, it is a gasification – not an incineration – model.”

The Sentinel, however, has consistently pointed out that the European Union thinks gasification is a form of incineration.

Equally, Mr Attwood also revealed in June that an ash pit will be needed to collect residual waste at the proposed plant. The word incinerate literally means ‘reduce to ashes.’

At the end of last month the Minister acknowledged the plant is an incinerator.

Responding to an Assembly query from Green MLA Stephen Agnew, he stated: “Any facility involving the thermal treatment of wastes is defined as an ‘incineration plant’ for the purposes of the EU Waste Incineration Directive; that is, to ensure that emissions from all such facilities are regulated to the same high standards.

“For the purposes of the directive therefore not only incineration by oxidization but other thermal treatment processes such as gasification, pyrolysis or plasma processes are all defined as Incineration, regardless of the specific technology involved.

“The technological distinctions are recognized in DEFRA guidance on Incineration of Municipal Waste, which advises that ‘Both Incineration and Advanced Thermal Treatment (ATT) technologies offer the option of treating residual waste and recovering energy. These technologies are different in how the waste is processed and the energy liberated for recovery.’”

The Minister said the North West Regional Waste Management Group (NWRWMG) - comprising seven councils from Moyle to Strabane including Londonderry- is determined to meet landfill diversion targets.

“Achieving these targets constitutes a key element of the Waste Management Plan agreed by its constituent councils following extensive consultation.

“Prior to initiating the procurement, the Joint Committee of the councils of the NWRWMG considered what technologies could constitute an acceptable element of any proposals for meeting their landfill diversion obligations. They agreed that all forms of energy recovery could be included, with the exception of mass burn incineration.”