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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 11 May 1999

Vol. 504 No. 4

Written Answers. - Waste Management.

Emmet Stagg

Ceist:

216 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if it is the policy of his Department to provide a national hazardous waste incinerator; the action, if any, taken by his Department to encourage or promote this project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12177/99]

Government policy in relation to waste management is set out in the programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium and related policy documents, and in the October 1998 policy statement entitled Changing our Ways. There is no current policy commitment in relation to the provision or otherwise of a national hazardous waste incinerator, and my Department has taken no action to encourage or promote any such project. Limited investment under the EU co-financed Operational Programme for Environmental Services, 1994-99, was allocated to a number of projects involving the storage, treatment and recovery of hazardous wastes.

Under part II of the Waste Management Act, 1996, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is required to make a national hazardous waste management plan which, among other things, will identify facilities currently available for the collection, recovery or disposal of hazardous wastes, and make recommendations regarding infrastructure, waste facilities and other physical resources considered to be necessary for the management of these wastes. I expect a draft of this national plan to be published shortly for public consultation. Policy in relation to the management of hazardous wastes will be reviewed when the national hazardous waste management plan is formally adopted by the EPA, later this year.

High standards of environmental protection are applied to the incineration of hazardous waste, by means of the comprehensive integrated pollution control licensing system operated by the EPA under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992. Currently, six hazardous waste incineration facilities are licensed by the EPA.

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