I ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY
Choice in Waste Management Key to Achieving Competitiveness By Jackie Keaney, Vice President, CEWEP Ireland e all like choice. Choice helps us make more informed decisions, particularly when it comes to spending money. Choice generally makes goods and services more affordable. One has to only look to the retail sector, particularly the food sector, to understand that choice has been a force for good. Providing real choice is now one of the central challenges we face. One of the sobering effects of the recession has been a wider acceptance that for too long, we were paying too much for too little. We became too expensive and paid the price. Now, as we start to rebuild, we need to examine how best we can make the cost of living more affordable for households and businesses alike.
ing systems in a renewable, sustainable way.
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Waste Management Waste management is right in the mix of this debate. The cost of waste treatment is one that every household and business must budget for. At a time when budgets are stretched, it becomes imperative that waste services offer value. Right now, we are failing to offer such value. Two recent reports – by Forfas, the national policy advisory body and the National Competitiveness Council – confirm just that. In short, both reports are telling us that Irish waste charges are too high and that progress on providing new waste facilities is too slow. The Forfas report is based on a study which benchmarked Ireland’s performance in the waste sector against other comparable countries. It found that Ireland continues to lag behind in providing efficient and effective waste management solutions for the industrial, commercial and household sectors. We have become overly dependent on landfill. Lack of Choice In short, there is a lack of choice when it comes to waste management. Why is this so and why, if policy signals are to be believed, are our choices set to narrow further? For a variety of reasons, largely political, Ireland either avoided or postponed waste policy decisions that other countries had
Slower Progress In Ireland, progress has been much slower. However, facilities now under construction and planned elsewhere will contribute significantly towards addressing the inadequacies Forfas and others have consistently pointed to. In doing so, these facilities will also provide large scale employment, both directly and indirectly. These facilities alone won’t help turn things around, but they will have a positive effect. So why then should we be reading about proposals to put a cap on waste-toenergy or tax this form of waste treatment?
Jackie Keaney, Vice President, CEWEP Ireland.
taken years earlier. The development of waste infrastructure development slowed, the waste mountain grew and costs continued to rise. It was largely through EU policy measures that a readjustment took place. The Landfill Directive in particular forced a rethink. Recycling figures started to increase and alternative infrastructure planning started to materialise. Waste-to-Energy In parallel, the waste-to-energy sector emerged as one of the solutions on offer. The membership of CEWEP – the Confederation of European Waste-toEnergy Plants – invested heavily across Europe to develop the most modern, most effective forms of waste infrastructure. They did so with the active support of Governments and municipalities of all political persuasions, whose policies and incentives facilitated the development of infrastructure that turned a problem – waste, into a solution – energy. Today, over 350 such facilities are in operation in cities and towns across Europe, heating water, powering factories and fuelling home heat-
Capping To address the capping issue first. Media reports of a study which is shortly to be presented to the Department of the Environment suggest that a recommendation will be made to cap the amount of waste going to incineration at 30%. If such a recommendation is made, it is one CEWEP would support. In practice, such a cap is already provided. Fully functioning facilities in Meath, Dublin and Cork combined represent less than 30% of total waste produced in Ireland. Therefore a cap of this nature will in reality have no effect on where we currently stand. Interestingly, Forfas in its report advises against a cap on incineration until such time as adequate new alternative waste treatment facilities are operational. Taxation The second signal coming at policy level focuses on taxation, with taxing landfill and incineration being floated as possible measures. Further taxing landfill is a no-brainer. The evidence in favour of it is overwhelming. Even landfill providers know that the game is up on sending untreated waste to landfill. The Government knows this too. Therefore putting a weighty tax on household waste going to landfill represents good environmental practice. Such a tax is aimed at changing behaviour and would not increase the financial burden on the householder, the plastic bag levy is an example of
ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY MANAGEMENT, AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2009
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