The Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) has called upon Ireland's Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, to ban the export of ash produced from waste incineration. The organization believes that the country should manage this waste itself as it would otherwise be losing a commodity worth EUR20 million per year. Current estimations show that the amount of incineration ash in Ireland produced could reach 250,000 tonnes over the next few years.
Imposed planning conditions for the development of the new Poolbeg incinerator, which will have a capacity of 600,00 tonnes per year, state that the ash from this plant must be exported. Up to 25,000 tonnes of the ash produced annually could be hazardous in nature. The IWMA have urged Mr Gormley to meet with Dublin City Council to discuss how this ash could be treated in Ireland.
'Exporting ash is wrong environmentally, economically and is totally unsustainable in the modern era. It also leaves us vulnerable under the law and increases costs to the consumer,' said IWMA chairman Jim Kells.
'Instead of recognizing the resource value of the ash, we are literally shipping money and jobs out of the country. We are imposing our waste on other countries and will remain completely reliant on these countries to continue accepting our ash. Germany has already banned this material from entering its borders. As we saw from the temporary collapse of the dry recyclables market last year, over-reliance on export routes can place a huge strain on our ability to function. It is imperative Ireland can manage what it produces.'
The new EU Waste Framework Directive, approved by member states last November, means that countries could refuse to accept each other's waste under the ruling that waste should be treated as close to where it is produced as possible.
'We are calling on the Minister for Environment to exercise his powers to create the regulatory certainty that will incentivise investment in the necessary treatment facilities and to allow us realise the benefits that can accrue from these exciting new developments,' Mr Kells said. 'The Minister can make this happen and signalling a ban on ash exportation would be a good start.'
