P Gwyrdd PFI Scam devised by Pro-Incinerator officers

PROSIECT GWYRDD SHORT-LIST
P Gwyrdd is a scam devised by pro-incinerator officers in S-E Wales to pretend to be seeking a “technology neutral” solution to municipal waste.

•  they brought in Partnerships UK as financial consultants – whose remit is promoting PFI. Because PFI has a bad press and was caught in the credit crunch, it has been re-badged as PBFOM.
•  they devised their reference project as a single incinerator, requiring a 25-30 year-long contract and high waste volumes, so the Councils are going slow on recycling (65% by 2025 though other authorities are already reaching or surpassing 70%)
•  they pretend all the incinerator grate-ash can be re-used as aggregate, those elsewhere it's found to be toxic material and less than half is re-used.
• WAG promised them 25% subsidy on the gate fee to the incinerator company. WAG again claims to be technology neutral, but disclosed in the media that energy-recovery from waste is “best” see below
•  WAG claimed it wanted high energy efficiency, 60% or more, using all the waste heat. But their subsidy is promised irrespective of the heat-use, implying their claim is dishonest.
•  The short-list of 4 companies announced by 'scam' Gwyrdd in December contained only large single incinerator projects, with little if any use of heat (the Veolia plan would supply a small fraction for injdustrial purposes to Solutia).

More details are in the briefing by R Walters member of Abergavenny & Crickhowell FOE (Friends of the Earth) [link]

When applied to incinerators, "energy from waste" is a dangerous euphemism. Far from being a sensible, environmentally friendly solution to the enormous amount of waste created in Wales, incineration is a nasty quick fix to deal with our ever-growing waste mountain.
The news that a 400m waste plant planned for Wales Jan 04 2011 to build one of the UK’s largest waste incineration plants on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil is shocking.
This is an Energy from waste CON.
WAG under pressure to reduce landfill are opting for incineration of waste under the pretext that they can make electricity from the process! We know the electricity from one of these large incinerators is pretty small, compared with normal power stations (several 100MW up to Aberthaw’s 1450MW) and produces toxic ash and air pollution. They set no requirement on energy efficiency, despite Welsh strategy on 60% minimum.
Claims that significant energy could generated from waste are wrong - even Covanta's huge Merthyr proposal would generate a tiny 60MW compared with Aberthaw's 1450 MW.
WAGs and Cardiff Councils are Re-branding incineration as a means of recovery rather than waste disposal to create the impression that burning our rubbish is environmentally-friendly, which it clearly is not.

Why Wales says NO to incineration and Veolia and Covanta

As the Prosiect 'Gwyrdd'/Incinerator team begin detailed diaglogue with the 4 big incinerator companies to turn A Resource into A Problem  I'd like to point out a few problems with the chosen companies.
Veolia is involved in aiding and abetting on-going war crimes. It is also facilitating, exacerbating, aiding and abetting Israel’s breach of the Hague Regulations. Under European Community regulations a company can be excluded from bidding for a public contract, or being awarded one, on the grounds of grave misconduct.
The British version of the European Directive is the Public Contract Regulations (2006) [section 23(4)(e)].
Veolia is Still doing Israel’s Dirty Work Veolia’s Tovlan landfill in the Jordan Valley

Veolia operates a landfill site in illegally occupied territory.  TMM, another subsidiary of Veolia Environnement, owns and operates the Tovlan landfill site in the occupied West Bank. Refuse from the illegal settlements is dumped in this site. At the same time, many Palestinian villages are denied refuse collection facilities by Israel leaving their inhabitants with no option but to dump their rubbish in the surrounding vicinity, leaving a profoundly negative impact on the environment.


Whilst the company’s involvement in the East Jerusalem tram line project has gained world wide infamy, their operations in the Jordan Valley have as yet not got them into as much trouble. However, their very direct support of the settlement infrastructure in one of the most vulnerable areas of Palestine prove that they are more than willing to profit from Israel’s brutal occupation as long as they can get away with it.
Who Profits from the Occupation?
A fortnight of action is coming up against Veolia

Swansea In June 2010 the council passed a motion to exclude Veolia from all future contracts: “This Council therefore calls on the Leader & Chief Executive not to sign or allow to be signed any new contracts or renewal of any existing contracts with Veolia or any other company in breach of international law, so long as to do so would not be in breach of any relevant legislation.” Veolia: Swansea City Council passes historic resolution to bar future contracts with Veolia July 15 2010.

Covanta
Huw Lewis, urged the Assembly Government not to attempt to attract jobs “at any costs”. we agree More jobs would be created by recycling more than by incineration..
Covanta - A FIRM which plans to build a giant waste incinerator in Wales has violated employment laws in America, a US government department has ruled. Wales on line reported that Merthyr Labour AM Huw Lewis said: “Frankly, I find it a little surprising that the Assembly Government has been courting a company that has a string of environmental breaches and seems to also engage in union-bashing. We desperately need quality jobs in Wales – and in Merthyr Tydfil in particular – but not jobs at any cost. I have tabled a Freedom of Information request to establish just how much dialogue has taken place between Government and Covanta before these incinerator proposals were tabled, I will be interested to see if anybody thought to ask about the importance of a unionised workforce.”

“It would be unfair to come to any final decision about these proposals until I am in possession of all the facts, but let’s say that this is already the third black mark against the Covanta waste incinerator. First, there was no prior warning to local people that this development was being actively pursued by elements of Government. Secondly, the poor environmental record of Covanta Energy has rightly got local people worried and finally the news about disregarding workers’ rights at American waste plants is also unacceptable.”
Wales TUC General Secretary Martin Mansfield said: “Welsh trade unionists are very concerned to hear from our colleagues in the Utility Workers Union of America about the anti-union approach taken by Covanta in the US.
Incinerator will 'finish Valleys', expert warns‎ WalesOnline - Chris Cousens - american energy giant Covanta has submitted an application for a 750000 tonne-a-year waste ...
Covanta sued again for dioxin pollution in the US
More info - http://southwaleswin.com/