Galway for a Safe Environment have welcomed the unanimous decision by Galway Corporation to exclude thermal treatment from the waste management plan, and to confine the plan to dealing with the waste of Galway City and County
Spokesman, Dr. Conchúr Ó Brádaigh, said that "the decision was an extremely brave one, and the councillors deserve every credit for rejecting the thermal treatment proposal. We are calling on Galway Corporation to immediately implement a programme of home and central composting, to be followed as soon as possible with a city-wide source separation and kerbside collection of recyclables.
"We are also calling on the people of Galway to get fully behind their councillors in the recycling efforts, and to prove that incineration is not needed to achieve the Government targets of 50% diversion from landfill. It is vital also that the people of County Galway, in particular in rural areas, are given the same opportunity to participate in recycling as people living in the cities. Everyone will be needed to reach the ambitious recycling targets that have been set out"
"We would also like to refute the statement made by MC O'Sullivan consultant, Mr. PJ Rudden, on local and national media this morning, that the Corporation vote will mean a trebling of landfill in County Galway. The facts are that this plan envisaged a total landfill requirement in Co. Galway which is greater than that currently being land filled in the County, if you take the incinerator ash into consideration. The Corporation vote, if it is echoed by the County Council in September will actually lead to less landfill in Co. Galway, not more landfill. As the recycling increases, the amount going to landfill will decrease, because we will not be importing waste from other counties."
"The type of material going to landfill once this new approach swings into action will also be much more benign that was planned in the Connacht Plan. There will be now no toxic incinerator ash going to landfill in the County, and if all organic and food materials are excluded, then the type of "dry" landfill that will result will be very far removed from the regional super-dump proposed in the Connacht Plan."