PLANS to locate a large landfill site in Co Limerick run contrary to EU policy and expose fundamental flaws in the Government's waste disposal strategy, it has been alleged by opponents of the proposed facility.
Limerick County Council plans to develop the 180 acre dump but it is due to serve both the eastern part of the county and Limerick city. It is to be located in the Slieve Felim mountains along the county's eastern border, a considerable distance away from Limerick's main sources of refuse.
The Abbot of Glenstal Abbey, Father Christopher Dillon OSB, has accused the council of planning to adopt "a pretechnological and basically lazy method of disposing of waste" that would cause irreversible damage to valuable landscape. The abbey's lands border Slieve Felim, one of the most scenic parts of Limerick.
The Slieve Felim Action Committee (SFAC) claims the location was selected largely on the basis that there would be little opposition as it is far from any significant population centre. This has been strongly denied by the Limerick county manager, Mr Roibeard O Ceallaigh.
A total of 60 potential sites were evaluated, he said, while an environmental impact statement (EIS) had found that the Slieve Felim option "will not pose a serious environmental risk".
SFAC has rejected suggestions that its stance is a "not in my back yard" one. It has disputed many of the EIS findings, pointing to the site's location and consequent environmental threats which, it believes, go beyond the local dimension. It is surrounded by five national heritage areas.
Leachate from the dump, it claims, would threaten groundwater sources connected to nationally important salmon spawning areas in the Mulcair river. An elevated site in a high rainfall area, it says, would make leachate control difficult. The EIS rejects these views.
The design failed to incorporate adequately measures to recycle or reduce waste as required by the EU, according to SFAC, while its remote location would involve high capital and operating costs.
Should the dump be licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency under new waste management legislation, SFAC will take legal action in an attempt to prevent it proceeding. The group wants the Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, to make a decision on the plan under existing legislation rather than to hand over responsibility to the EPA.
In a letter to Mr Howlin, Father Dillon said of the proposal: "Everyone knows that this is a pretechnological and basically lazy method of disposing of waste. What is proposed is nothing less than an irreversible disaster with consequences extending far beyond the immediate environs of Slieve Felim."
In a submission to Mr Howlin, Environment Management Services, consultants employed by SFAC, said that if a recycling process was adopted in Limerick, existing county landfill could have its lifespan extended.
A revised EU directive on landfill places limits on disposal of biodegradable wastes, it noted. By 2002, such wastes must be reduced by 75 per of 1993 totals, which would substantially increase landfill costs.
Support for the group has come from Prof Laurence Roche, a consultant for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, who lives in the area. An emeritus professor of forestry at the University of Wales, he said the proposal was wrong in principle and many of the EIS findings were in his view flawed.
He is opposed to Coillte's making available lands for the dump - it has environmental obligations beyond wood production. "The site is surrounded by national heritage areas. The EIS gives an estimated 200 vehicle journeys per nine hour day through completely unspoiled countryside."
The county manager, Mr Ceallaigh, denied that the EIS was flawed. It had been carried out by M. C. O'Sullivan & Co, "leaders in the field" and involved COWI consult of Copenhagen with 14 other consultants who examined every aspect, including flora and fauna.
The critical factor was ground water evaluation. The site chosen was "identified as the most suitable groundwater location", while scientific evaluation had found there would be "no irreversible consequences" of having a dump at such a location.
A remote location was chosen, he said, because Limerick depends uniquely on groundwater and it was found to be the place of least damage in that context. Access was easy and "it also happens to be exceptionally isolated".
Any suggestion that the site was chosen before the EIS was commissioned was unfounded, he added. The EIS confirmed the siting decision was taken using best international landfill selection practice.
On recycling, he said that there was between 5 and 7 per cent recycling of waste nationally. "You cannot go to 100 per cent recycling overnight. That is flying in the face of reality. Even with the best recycling operations, there is a waste residue to be dealt with."
