South Wales WIN lobbied the Plaid conference this weekend - read media coverage here
Campaigners urge Plaid Cymru to uphold election pledge on incinerators
WASTE - A BURNING ISSUE
Time for Plaid to stand up against Incinerator ambitions driving Waste Policy in Wales
Plaid’s 2010 election manifesto is clear – 80% recycling/composting by 2020 plus opposition to waste incinerators. So let’s see Plaid condemning WAG’s rotten targets and its subsidies for incinerators –the £9 million/yr for Prosiect 'Gwyrdd' means £30-40million/yr throughout Wales.
Reality of Poor recycling targets and drive to mega-incinerators
WAG’s bias to incineration - subsidising gate fees and promoting regional consortia for 'residual' waste - is stronger than in England or Scotland. Contrary to Jane Davidson’s ‘green’ claims, there are no ambitious recycling targets in Wales are not ambitious. Only 70% recycling, or 65% excluding incinerator ash, not the 80-90% judged feasible. 75% is already reached in Flanders etc. 70% by 2015 is practicable, but WAG defers it till 2025 !
The 5-county Prosiect 'Gwyrdd' is leading WAG's drive for privatisation of waste in Wales, with a projected value of £1.1 billion over 25 years. The 4 chosen companies to bid for 25-year PFI contract are Covanta/Brig y Cwm; Viridor/Cardiff; Waste Recycling Group Ltd/Barry; Veolia ES Aurora Ltd/Newport, all variants of incinerators pretending to be ‘energy’ plants. Two claim to be CHP, providing some heat as well as energy, but don't qualify as they will use little of the heat and hardly reach half the 60% energy efficiency set in Wales.
Their 'Design, Build, Finance and Operate' arrangement is a version of PFI, the disreputable Private Finance Initiative. Prosiect Gwyrdd’s Chair (Lib-Dem Cllr Stephens) claimed it’s only a PPP (private-public partnership) yet “financing for the Project will be predominantly, if not wholly, procured from private finance.”
WAG recruited Howel Jones from Partnerships UK – promoter of Blair-Brown’s PFIs – to cajole and bribe all Welsh councils into similar waste projects. Private companies taking over waste management in Wales was a ‘new’ Labour agenda.
Why oppose the incineration of household waste?
The principal purpose is ‘disposal’ and the 5 counties’ declared plan for 35% incineration means reduced efforts for recycling/composting
Far from helping to 'tackle climate change', burning more rubbish produces far more carbon emissions (eg. from oil-based plastics) than it saves through electricity generation. Cardiff proposes to ignore incinerator CO2 by calling it ‘industrial’, so maintaining ‘green’ pretensions
The ‘business case’ relied on exaggerating future quantities of waste. Waste PFIs need guaranteed amounts of waste per week and they assumed waste tonnages will grow over the years to offset increased recycling.
Poses health risks with toxic emissions and huge tonnages of hazardous ash sent to landfill – with special low rate of landfill tax.
WAG's policy claims to be technology-neutral, yet
# they require the 25-year contracts, Private Finance model, with an incinerator as “reference technology”.
# force authorities to choose mega-waste companies and squeeze out Welsh businesses
# it’s part of the privatisation agenda, that has proved highly costly.
The alternatives to incineration are cheaper, more flexible, quicker to implement and better for the environment. Rather than incinerating waste, the best option is to reduce residual waste to a minimum, through more intensive recycling and sorting. WAG’s own consultant’s report shows 80% recycling is more economic than the 70% they chose, as well as being more ‘sustainable’. Prof. Paul Connett, the leading exponent of the ‘zerowaste’ movement, on a recent visit, condemned WAG’s policy.
P Gwyrdd ignores risks
locked into a 25-year private finance contract, even more expensive since the credit crunch
incinerator ash will be classed as 'hazardous waste', with high costs of treatment or disposal
penalties will be attached to the huge amounts of CO2 emitted by incinerators.
We call on Plaid Cymru tob continue to oppose the use of waste incinerators, disguised as Energy-from-Waste (EfW) urgently demand a independent review of the value-for-money of private finance
demand disclosure of full information, over-riding excuses of commercial confidentiality
Call Plaid Cllrs in Cardiff and Caerphilly to account for supporting Prosiect 'Gwyrdd'
Expose the greenwash of incineration by WAG’s “Waste Awareness Wales”
Stick to 2010 Plaid’s Westminster Manifesto
“We will continue to oppose the use of waste incinerators and support binding targets for waste prevention. We support recycling targets of 80% of domestic waste by 2020 and the introduction of a higher landfill tax. We will campaign for changes in public procurement legislation so that Local Authorities can favour materials from recycled and local sources”.
2008: Conference further calls:
On the Assembly Government to work with all local authorities across Wales to promote a consistent and standardized approach to waste management which takes recognition of the fact that recovery of energy from waste is fullest through maximising recycling including that of plastics, and the separate collection and anaerobic digestion of food way genste; and that, by contrast, incineration is a bad solution, inefficient in energy generation, and damaging to the environment and climate change
South Wales WIN,
http://southwaleswin.com/ affiliated to UK Without Incineration Network (WUKWIN)
email southwaleswin@gmail.com
Strangely the lib dems attack Plaid on supporting inconeration when they too support it and chair the joint committee. More
here
Cllrs on P Gwyrdd Joint Committtee where tories CALL THE SHOTS!!
Strange bed fellows! 2 Plaid 2 lib Dems 6 Tories
http://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/prosiectgwyrdd/english/joint_committee.html
Lyn Ackerman Plaid Cymru Caerphilly
Colin Mann Plaid Cymru Caerphilly
Margaret Jones Lib Dems Cardiff
Mark Stephens Lib Dems Cardiff
Philip Murphy Tory Monmouthshire
S B Jones Tory Monmouthshire
bryanjones@monmouthshire.gov.uk
William Routley Tory Newport
David Fouweather Tory Newport
Cllr Geoffrey A. Cox Tory Vale of Glamorgan
Gordon C. Kemp Tory Vale of Glamorgan
Campaigners urge Plaid Cymru to uphold election pledge on incinerators
CAMPAIGNERS today were due to urge Plaid Cymru to stick to its election promise to oppose massive waste incineration schemes in South Wales.
The South Wales WithoutŠIncinerationŠNetwork (WIN) is pressing AMs, councillors and activists not to abandon their 2010 pledge to oppose the Prosiect Gwyrdd programme, which has won support from the Welsh Assembly Government.
The £1.1bn project privately funded over 25 years could, says WIN, see multiple incinerators built in South Wales, while WAG’s target to recycle 70% of rubbish by 2023 falls short of a possible 80% to 90% recycled.
A spokesman, speaking as Plaid Cymru holds its conference at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre, argued: “Plaid’s 2010 election manifesto is clear – 80% recycling and composting by 2020 and opposing the use of waste incinerators.
“It’s high time Plaid condemned WAG’s rotten targets with subsidies for incinerators.“Shoving more waste up a chimney and spewing toxic emissions into the air will undermine recycling, not increase it.”
WIN also insists incineration poses public health risks with toxic emissions and huge amounts of hazardous ash sent to landfill.
It wants Plaid to oppose all waste incinerators and demand an independent review of PFI projects such as Prosiect Gwyrdd with much fuller information about them.
Independent Caerphilly councillor Anne Blackman said: “We in Europe are being hoodwinked into paying millions in subsidy to process valuable waste that’s dealt with for free or paid for by the collectors in Canada and Africa.
“These plants could put deposits that are smaller than soot into the air that might affect more people than coal dust did in the mining industry.
“We need our public health and environmental professionals to examine incineration proposals and provide scientific and medical evidence about its effect on public health.
“We need to see the evidence and have a public debate – not just foist this onto our great-grandchildren for the next 25 years.”
A spokeswoman for Plaid Cymru said: “Plaid’s commitment is to overhauling planning policy so that decisions in relation to waste can be made close to the people and serve the needs of communities.
“Local people need to have a voice in that process.
“We are also committed to working with universities and industry to find new ways to deal with non-recyclable waste.
“Ultimately, of course, this is a decision for local authorities. Plaid’s sustainability spokesperson Leanne Wood recently reaffirmed Plaid’s opposition to incineration, and questioned the Environment Minister on the Welsh Government’s subsidy to Prosiect Gwyrdd in the Assembly chamber.”
WAG declined to comment given the forthcoming election.
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/03/26/campaigners-urge-plaid-cymru-to-uphold-election-pledge-on-incinerators-91466-28405958/#ixzz1HshCYMjU
