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Thousands Say No to Incinerator by Keith Kelly A STAGGERING one in four people in Galway city has signed a petition against the construction of a thermal treatment plant in Galway as part of the Connacht Waste Management Plan. The petition, drawn up by the Galway for a Safe Environment group, has the signatures of 15,241 people who say they are against the proposed incinerator planned for one of four selected sites around the city. "This is a very loud wake-up call to the councillors and the Government that they would be unwise to ignore. In particular, city councillors have been openly informed that they have no mandate to vote in a waste management plan that includes incineration. "The voters of Galway have clearly said otherwise. Not to recognise this obvious fact from the petition would be blatantly undemocratic and mean that the political representatives do not heed or express the will of the people,” according to GSE spokesperson Brendan Smith, the co-ordinator of the petition. The petition was signed by 11,000 in six shopping centres in the city on two consecutive weekends earlier this year, while a further 4,000 people added their names to the call to abandon incineration plans when GSE members made door-to-door calls to some housing estates in the city. "It has to be remembered that this petition has only been signed in the city - there are a number of groups in the east of the county also opposed to the waste management plan. "The petition campaign will recommence next week with the aim of reaching 20,000 signatures. With such public backing of our campaign against incineration, if politicians sign the waste management plan they will be signing their own political obituaries,” Smith said. However, mayor of Galway Declan McDonnell says that, while he is 100 per cent in favour of recycling, it is not the answer on its own to the waste problem, saying a degree of landfill or incineration will always be needed. "Yes we need recycling and I agree with recycling, but there is a limit to the level of recycling I believe we can achieve. Not everything can be recycled - I believe a limit of 50 per cent is what we can achieve in recycling - so what do we do with the remaining 50 per cent? "In Seattle they started a recycling campaign in 1987 with a 22 per cent target which was gradually increased - they now have a 60 per cent recycling target but are finding it hard to achieve this. "Recycling on its own does not and will not solve a waste problem - we need incineration or landfill, and it is said that, because our land is so soft, landfill in Ireland can be as dangerous as incineration, if there is any danger with incineration,” he says. Commenting on the number of signatures collected by the GSE petition, the mayor said his view on petitions was that people would always sign things without having 100 per cent of the facts. Conchur O’Bradaigh of GSE said the petition was the strongest show of opposition yet to the proposal to build an incinerator in Galway, and he called on the six local authorities affected by the draft waste plan to abandon it and draw up a new one. He also hinted that, despite an estimated cost of almost £1 million, the GSE, in conjunction with all other community groups opposed to the waste plan, is considering drafting its own waste management plan with an emphasis on recycling. Although he would not comment on this matter, it is believed opposition groups will meet to discuss the possibility of drawing up a waste management plan after Galway’s two local authorities make a final decision on the plan currently in front of them - the GSE expects the current plan to be emphatically defeated at council level. • The GSE is holding a debate on the issue of an incinerator for Galway in the Corrib Great Southern Hotel this Sunday, beginning at 6pm. There will be speakers both for and against the idea, and everyone is welcome to attend. <!-- HTML Markup endspan --> </td> </tr> </table> <a name=bottom></a> </body> </html>