Parties must tell us where they stand on Incineration

Parties must tell us where they stand; VIEWPOINTS

South Wales Echo April 1, 2011

ACCORDING to a Plaid Cymru spokeswoman ("Plaid urged to stand 
by waste pledge", March 26), the party remains committed to 
opposing waste incineration.
Maximum recycling, composting and other advanced processes
 are indeed the genuinely "green" alternatives.
Meanwhile, residents and local businesses in Cardiff face the
prospect of a huge incinerator being built in Trident Park, 
spewing out 350,000 tonnes of burning waste and pollutants 
all your round, ferried in by daily fleets of lorries - courtesy of 
the Plaid Cymru and LibDem-controlled Cardiff County Council.
And all this to the profit of big business, subsidised by local
taxpayers through the humorously named "Prosiect Gwyrdd" 
(Green Project).
Now that the National Assembly's petitions committee and 
the Local Government Ombudsman for Wales are considering 
widespread local objections, I have a question for all candidates
and parties in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Before polling day, will you make your position clear on building
giant waste incineration schemes next to residential areas - are you 
for or against? ¦ Robert Griffiths Chair, Cardiff Against the Incinerator

Copyright 2011 Western Mail and Echo LtdAll Rights Reserved
South Wales Echo

Please reply to cardiffagainsttheincinerator@gmail.com 

 Have you signed yet? e-Petition:
No to Incineration

We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh 
Government to revise its planning policy and policy on residual waste
 to provide a presumption against the building of incinerators, 
which send most of the carbon from waste into the air as CO2,
 emit ultra-fine particles that can be damaging to health, and create 
toxic ash. We believe that incineration is bad for the environment 
and bad for people

Call for Plaid to stand up against Incinerator ambitions driving Waste Policy in Wales

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

Time Plaid to condemn subsidy for £1.1bn incinerator PFI

South Wales Without Incineration Network will be lobbying the Plaid conference on Sat 26th March  against WAGs funding for incineration and Plaid Councillors in power in Caerphilly and Cardiff promoting incineration and PFI totally against Plaid Policy. 

WASTE A BURNING ISSUE Time for PLAID TO STAND UP against Incinerator Ambitions Driving Waste Policy in Wales 
Reality of Poor recycling targets and drive to mega-incinerators

Plaid’s 2010 election manifesto is clear – 80% recycling/composting by 2020 & oppose the use of waste incinerators. High Time for Plaid to condemn WAG’s rotten targets with subsidies for incinerators - £9 million/yr for Prosiect 'Gwyrdd'

Contrary to Jane Davidson’s ‘green’ claims, there are no ambitious recycling targets in Wales. Only 70% recycling, or 65% excluding incinerator ash, not the 80-90% judged feasible, with 75% already met in Flanders etc. Not by 2015 as is quite practicable, but deferred till 2025(!)

WAG bias to incineration - both subsidy and promoting regional consortia for 'residual' waste - is stronger than either England or Scotland.  

The 5-county Prosiect 'Gwyrdd'/Incinerator  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 disguised as energy plants. Two claim to be CHP, provide heat and as well as energy but don't qualify as they will use little of the Heat and under 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. 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.

Why oppose the incineration of household waste?

• Shoving more waste up a chimney and spewing toxic emissions into the air will undermine recycling, not increase it
• 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. WAG pretend incinerator CO2 can be ignored by calling it ‘industrial’, so maintaining ‘green’ pretensions
• Relies on exaggerating future quantities of waste instead of strongly increased recycling and composting. Waste PFIs need guaranteed amounts of waste per week & assume waste tonnages will grow over the length of the contract.
• Poses health risks with toxic emissions and huge tonnages of hazardous ash sent to landfill

WAG's policy claims to be technology-neutral, yet

• The Private Finance trap locks us into 25-year contracts
• forces authorities to choose mega-waste companies and squeeze out Welsh businesses

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.

P Gwyrdd/Incinerator ignores risks

• locked into PFI they call 'Design, Build, Finance and Operate' capital funding which relies too heavily on banks and more expensive since 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 to

• continue to oppose the use of waste incinerators even when called EfW
• urgently demand a independent review of the value for money case of private finance when interest margins which financiers now demand on PFI projects are higher and likely to stay at elevated levels.
• Ask whether the disclosure of commercial information about the project is adequate and whether more information could be put in the public domain without endangering commercial confidentiality
• Stop Plaid Cllrs in power in Cardiff and Caerphilly supporting Prosiect 'Gwyrdd'/Incinerator
• Stop the Greenwash and stick to reality

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 waste; and that, by contrast, incineration is a bad solution, inefficient in energy generation, and damaging to the environment and climate change.

Bullshitting over Private Finance for Prosiect Gwyrdd

Bullshitting over Private Finance for Prosiect Gwyrdd

Cllr Mark Stephens took on the PFI question at Cardiff Council meeting of 24th February. "P Gwyrdd is under a PPP partnership so cannot be PFI" – you're confused he told Anne Greagsby!

People had thought this guy spouts acronyms like DBFOM and PPP to show his superiority, but his answer showed he doesn't understand that a partnership can use private finance – it fully deserved the response “bullshit”, which caused ripples amidst the smug rows in the Council Chamber.

Why is this important? Because it shows the chair of Prosiect Gwyrdd is an ignoramus, who doesn't read the crucial financial documents. The Procurement Strategy [1] at s.8.4.1 says WAG funding is “critical” and WAG requires use of SoPc4 (Standardisation of PFI Contracts Version 4). It shows too ignorance of the reasons why the LibDem party and its guru Vince Cable reject PFI deals as excessively costly and a proven rip-off.

Cllr Stephens also chairs Cardiff Council's Finance Cttee, which may explain the crassly wasteful expenditure in the Council's waste section, who sent kitchen and garden biowastes for processing in Derby at the immense cost of £500 per tonne (normally near £50 per tonne).

[1] www.caerphilly.gov.uk/prosiectgwyrdd/pdfs/Procurement_Strategy.pdf ; Standardisation of PFI Contracts Version 4 www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/ppp_technical_update.pdf

Clive Bates WAG Spin Doc

Clive Bates started as Director General for Sustainable Futures at the Welsh Assembly Government in March 2009, and paid £130k pa to front letters to the local press! ** Let’s recover energy from our waste letters to South Wales Echo Jan 20 2011 "IN THE interests of an open, honest conversation about how we deal with our rubbish..... "

Clive Bates CV coming through Greenpeace to become an apparachik, now declaring waste-to-energy is “best” ? *1990s worked for Greenpeace on energy and climate change, then became Director of ASH
* 2003 to Tony Blair's strategy unit
* 2005 head of environment policy at the Env AgencyRecently in 2010 became"Director General Sustainable Development" WAG. This grand title denotes the recent new layer of civil servants – Wales has appointed three @ £130k salary.
How does a guy with Greenpeace pedigree and understanding greenhouse gas complexities come to endorse the incineration industry line – that burning waste helps “to tackle climate change” in the local paper (S W Echo, 20 January**)? He repeats another canard: “energy from waste installations are regulated to stringent European standards, including those related to health” which of course comes from an Environment Agency blind to nanoparticles.

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/