Zero Waste Alliance Ireland
A Policy and Strategy for Delivering Real Changes in Waste Management in Ireland
Latest News
Government needs to implement Stockholm Convention to save our Bacon.Cork, Dec 8th 2008
March 30th 2008. Irish Medics concerned at health impacts of Incinerators and Landfills.
Proposed MBT solutions for Irelands waste will be big winner.
Oct 2007 : USA HEADING FOR ZERO WASTE IN NATIONAL PARKS - compostible ‘Ecotainer’.
Cause and Contrast
The speedy reaction of the state agencies in publicly dealing with the current Pigmeat PCB & Dioxin contamination scare sharply contrasts with their inaction on implementing the very treaty designed to eliminate these contaminants.
Because of the delays to date in transposing these International Conventions into Irish Law, a situation remains where there is inadequate protection for consumers of meat products or for the health of Irish citizens in general due to exposure to pollutants.
ZWAI rejects Government claims that there is no risk from low exposure to Dioxins, and that people do not need to seek medical help. Such are the scientific concerns about the toxicity of PCB's and other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) that the Stockholm Convention makes no allowance for low exposure levels; (rather Article 5 of this Convention places a legal obligation to further reduce dioxin exposure levels and requires all States to work for the ultimate goal of their complete elimination). Under the Stockholm Convention there is an obligation on the State, in circumstances such as this, to carry out dioxin tests in a sample population who have consumed large amounts of pig meat products in the recent past. They are also obliged to adequately resource the monitoring and analysis of these pollutants (Article 11) which is clearly not the case as Minister Sargent admitted yesterday.
The outlook for future contamination events is poor as the Government backs plans for large waste incinerators, which will add considerably to future POPs levels - in breach of our Stockholm convention obligations.
The Zero Waste Alliance of Ireland (ZWAI) believes that the safest way to ensure against further public health emergencies and our good food image abroad, is to urgently implement the Stockholm Convention and the Aarhus Conventions. In addition the Government must properly apply the "Polluter Pays Principle" when setting penalties for any breach and cease issuing licences for any major sources of Dioxins and PCB's such as Waste Incinerators.
We call upon the Minister to speedily transpose these Conventions into Irish Law .
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Notes to Editors:
The Stockholm Convention is an International legal obligation to protect public health from the 12 most toxic pollutants. The environmental and food chain exposure to these 12 POP's are to be progressively reduced and eliminated. PCB's / Dioxins are among these 12 toxins. The Convention (commonly known as the POP's Convention) has been in force since the 17th May 2004. The Irish Government have yet to publish a National Implementation plan to enforce it.
About ZWAI.
Zero Waste Alliance Ireland (ZWAI) are Irelands leading group pursuing Zero Waste principles to guarantee a sustainable future. We are aiming for adoption throughout all aspects of Irish Society from government policy to industry best practices and of course throughout every home and enterprise on the Island of Ireland .ZWAI is a registered charity and is part of the Irish Environmental Network of NGOs .
Contact details
Zero Waste Alliance Ireland
Sean Cronin Chairman
Tel : +353 (0)87 6777358
Irish Medics At the recent 2008 AGM of the Irish Medical Organization in Killarney, a motion was passed demanding bio monitoring of people living within the vicinity of incinerators and landfills. Numerous medical studies have appeared internationally outlining the negative impacts on people living within the vicinity of Incinerators and landfills (especially to the unborn) . There is great concern in Ireland with proposals to build waste Incineratros and establish new super landfills in populated areas. The motion sought to address the lack of actual medical data available to decision makers by instituting a comprehensive bio monitoring regime.
The AGM supported the establishment of registers of known relevant baseline health data in the vicinity of new incinerators and landfill sites and in addition that active ongoing health surveillance systems , including bio monitoring, be undertaken in these areas in order to detect changes in the incidence of sentinel diseases and levels of bio toxins in the population
"The AGM also reflected concerns with global warming and energy consumption agreeing that In recognition of the impact of climate change on the health and survival of people in all areas of the world, more particularly in poorer areas, this AGM encourages health professionals and the institutions they work in to reduce their individual carbon footprint as a matter of urgency and furthermore calls on the DOHC and the HSE to give due consideration to the carbon footprint of all aspects of the health services with a view to achieving a 70% reduction by 2050.
"ZWAI welcomes all attempts to reduce waste creation, wasted time, wasted energy and demands a more sustainable approach to our use of natural resources
NIAGARA REGION, January 21, 2008 - As part of its ongoing level of service review, Niagara Region's Waste Management Services Division commissioned a study to assess the 'true costs' associated with composting its more than 47,000 tonnes of Green Bin (self separated) organics. The study results show that while the Region will be paying about $86.50 per tonne to compost organics, its 'true cost', as clearly outlined in the detailed study, is only $19.66 per tonne.
"'True costs' represent the cost of operations minus the environmental cost of each option," said Barry Friesen, director, Waste Management Services. "The environmental cost is calculated by giving a value to items like greenhouse gas emissions." As part of the 'true cost' analysis, the report showed it is far cheaper, and significantly less damaging to the environment, to compost organics than to otherwise dispose of them. Recent waste audits showed that, on average, over one-third of the material in Niagara residents' garbage bags is organic. "We need more of our citizens to participate in separating organic material into the Green Bin for composting," said Mr. Friesen. "The study shows that composting the Region's organics is by far the most beneficial option for our environment and our wallet; two more good reasons for residents to participate in the Green Bin program." The study was presented on Tuesday, January 22, to the Region's Waste Management Planning Steering Committee.
A recent study on Composting commissioned by Niagara Region's Waste Management Services Division has vindicated the MBT (mechanical Biological treatment) approach to landfill avoidance. The report shows that the costs of Composting are by far the lowest of all alternative options when considering the 'true cost' of waste management.
ZWAI recommends that ‘true cost’ analysis be applied to all evaluations of waste management proposals in Ireland. This will ensure we select the most beneficial method for current and future needs. "'True costs' represent the cost of operations minus the environmental cost of each option," said Ollan Herr, director, ZWAI. "The environmental cost is calculated by giving a value to items like greenhouse gas emissions, carbon credits" . The arguments for the beginning of large scale composting and anaerobic digestion of organics in this country are now beyond doubt. This has been brought into sharp focus by the new EU Environmental targets set out on Jan 24th.
Ireland has a lot of catching up to do to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. The easiest win for Ireland is simply to divert all organics away from landfills through a large scale composting and anaerobic digestion network. This will harness energy from the waste, avoid landfill greenhouse gas emissions and provide valuable fertilizers and soil enrichment. Presently over one third of our landfill waste is organic. This volume can be completely eliminated and put to better use.
ZWAI demands that the Minister for the Environment and Local Government declares the date beyond which it will be illegal for householders or the waste collectors to mix organics with other waste. This should be further enforced by the bylaws. From that date forward all organics in all local authority areas within the state must be composted at home or be presented in a separate organics bin for separate collection.
ZWAI suggests a launch date of January 1st 2009. Organics such as food waste, vegetation waste etc will, in some cases, still be delivered to landfill - however it must be delivered and weighed separately when it arrives at the landfill and then separated. The advantage is that the Minister then has the option to impose a specific organic waste or carbon tax to be imposed only on the organics fraction going to landfill or incineration. This will pay for EPA inspectors to be employed full time at each landfill and incinerator - in the same way that veterinary inspectors are permanently on site at meat factories.
ZWAI are presently engaging with the Ministers strategy advisory group to promote a Zero Waste attitude to all waste issues.
Through an agreement with the National Park Foundation, International Paper will produce a customized cup for use by parks, concessionaires and others. The cup, International Paper's fully compostable, recyclable ecotainer™, will display printed messages that will raise awareness about the National Park Centennial in 2016 and educate the public about conservation and environmental stewardship. International Paper will donate a penny for each commemorative cup sold (up to $1 million) back to the National Park Foundation to help fund a joint effort between IP, the National Park Foundation and the National Recycling Coalition to evaluate foodservice waste management practices and educate employees, concessionaires and visitors about ways to reduce waste in the parks.
Such a container will have widespread use in all fast food outlets, and Ireland could do well to follow this worthwhile approach.
A technical report - “An Analysis of Energy Production Costs From Anaerobic Digestion Systems on U.S. Livestock Production Facilities” - was issued in October 2007 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The publication reviews the potential of using manure anaerobic digestion (AD) systems to produce electricity or biogas to supply farm energy needs. An in-depth biogas production cost analysis is provided to assess the feasibility. It is based on 38 installations in the U.S., and was authored by Jenifer Beddoes and Kelsi Bracmort of NRCS, Robert Burns of Iowa State University and William Lazarus of the University of Minnesota. Both electricity and biogas costs from these systems were compared to the current U.S. cost of electricity, natural gas and liquid propane (LP) in dollars/gigajoule of energy content. The analysis shows that AD system capital costs can be reduced by approximately 36 percent if no electrical generation system is installed.
The economic advantage of using biogas at the point of generation is more apparent in remote locations where the costs of natural and LP gas are higher than standard markets. The cost analysis presented suggests that lower cost AD systems currently employed on U.S. farms can provide biogas that is competitive or lower in cost than current U.S. commercial natural gas prices - if the biogas is used directly on site in space heaters or boilers without excessive additional gas upgrading (cleaning and conditioning) costs. Explains the report's summary: “Typically, the value of the energy alone produced by a manure AD system will not provide a positive cash flow given current U.S. energy costs. The combination of multiple benefits including energy value, odor control, by-product sales, carbon credit value and possible tipping fees for taking other materials (such as food waste) is the best approach to operating a manure digestion system with overall benefits that exceed system installation and operation costs.
Producers should also consider the use of cost-share, grant monies or other support for the development of renewable energy sources that may be available to assist with the installation of manure AD systems. The offset of a portion or all of the digester capital costs can result in the ability to operate a digester system with a positive cash flow from energy sales alone. Based on the analysis completed in this study, the direct use on the farm for biogas produced via a manure AD system appears to be economically feasible when the on-farm heating requirements are high enough to utilize the biogas produced by the system.”
The True costs of Anaerobic Digestion are now such that viable businesses can operate. With recent EU targets for alternative energy generation and elimination of greenhouse gases, the scales are tipping in favour of AD systems’, said Sean Cronin, Chairman ZWAI. ‘For Ireland today the winning combination of the bio-energy generated, better odour control at landfill (once organics are taken away), sales of fertilisers, composts and soil treatments, carbon credit value and cash from tipping fees for taking food waste guarantee overall benefits that exceed system installation and operation costs. It’s time Ireland entrepreneurs got active in this field’.