‘Eco’ waste bid ‘not green’ - campaigners (From South Wales Argus)

‘Eco’ waste bid ‘not green’ - campaigners

2:54pm Wednesday 15th December 2010 in News By David Deans, Reporter

A GROUP of campaigners yesterday attacked the green credentials of a plan to cut the amount of waste to send to landfill in South Wales.

Friends of the Earth members claim that Prosiect Gwyrdd's four shortlisted firm's proposals for dealing with non-recyclable waste amount to building incinerators.

They say the facilities would in fact contribute to climate change by emitting carbon dioxide.

The scheme, the name of which translates as Project Green, is being organised by Newport, Monmouthshire, Caerphilly, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan Councils to find an alternative to dumping so-called residual waste into landfill.

Two of the shortlisted projects are in Newport. Waste Recycling Group is proposing an “Energy from Waste” facility at the Solutia UK site in Traston Road, Newport, while Veolia ES Aurora wants to create an “energy recovery facility” at Bowlease Common, south of the Llanwern steelworks.

The other two are at Merthyr Tydfil and in Cardiff.

Rod Walters, member of the Abergavenny FoE group, said incineration is far from green, typically emitting between 0.7 to 1.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of waste.

He said combustion also produces toxic substances harmful to human health, and that flue ash recovered from stacks is highly toxic.

Other technologies such as gasification were not selected, he said, “for reasons that are shrouded in mystery.”

“The people of Caerphilly, Cardiff, Newport, Monmouthshire and Vale of Glamorgan should refuse to accept the shortlist,” he said.

A spokesman for Prosiect Gwyrdd said the partnership has not specified a technology, and stated in a previous advert that it would consider any solution that will meet its requirements.

He said: “We give an output specification and the market brings forward solutions based on our requirements for the waste which cannot be practically recycled or composted.”

Preferred bidders are due to be picked by Autumn 2011 with contracts finalised by 2012.