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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 8 May 1990

Vol. 398 No. 4

Written Answers. - Hospital Incinerators.

Roger T. Garland

Ceist:

135 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for Health if he will make a statement on the hospitals which have been equipped with heat recovery incinerators; when these were installed in each case; the percentage of energy in each hospital which is provided by the incineration of hospital wastes; whether a check is kept by his Department on the temperature and chemical composition of flue gases; if there is a register kept of the composition of wastes and the temperature at which they are incinerated; if an independent body checks the above; the occasions on which such a body has been used; and the locations and results of these checks.

The following is a list of hospitals with heat recovery incinerators and their dates of installation: Ardkeen, Waterford, 1989; Coombe, Dublin, 1987; Mater, Dublin, 1983; Peamount, County Dublin, 1980; Portiuncula, Ballinaslow, 1986. Figures for the percentage of energy provided by the incineration of hospital wastes are not available. However, in most cases the heat recovered is sufficient to meet all of a hospital's thermal requirements in summer and about 20 per cent of thermal requirements in winter, during the hours when the incinerator is in use. A register of the composition of wastes and the temperature at which they are incinerated is not routinely kept by the hospitals and such data are not checked by my Department or by any independent body.

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