Blogging from the Bog

   It is with great joy that I welcome the news that Indaver has cancelled their plans for the incinerator in Duleek, Co. Meath (near Dublin) and apparently their other project near Cork.   Indaver is a Belgian waste management company who adopted the name Indaver-Ireland to ease their way into the country to solve the waste problem; but, were opposed at every turn by public outcries for "No Incinerators".  What has eventually halted the progress of this company is the inability of the government to formulate a cohesive policy on waste management.  The government seems to have no cohesive policy on anything for that matter but in this instance I’m delighted!

   Waste management is a growing problem and solutions will need to be found and will best be solved by an Irish company.  Incineration is with us to stay and in some way, shape or form and could be properly managed to provide employment and profit that will remain here.

   Shannonsbridge is a power generating facility that creates electricity by burning peat from the non-renewable bogs in the Midlands.  Recently it has gone off-line due to operating difficulties and equipment failure.  After millions being spent in upgrades it seems the peat itself has damaged the equipment because the moisture content in the burning peat has corroded the new metals.  It is still off-line I believe.

   Though maybe not a perfect solution I challenge everyone to come up with a better one:  Burn the waste that Indaver would have in Dublin and Cork in this facility at Shannonsbridge.  By percentages the waste/peat ratio could be increased until all the energy generated by Shannonsbridge comes from our own waste!  There are contracts out with the ESB for the burning of the turf but that could be circumvented with the knowledge that carbon emissions from the burning peat would be nullified, and the waste would be renewable, free, and create jobs.

    © Caoimhin