Waterford waste centre plans scrapped

PLANS for a controversial waste treatment centre on the edge of Waterford city have been scrapped, much to the delight of opponents to the project.

Herhof Environmental in Germany is experiencing financial difficulties and has gone into administration.

Its plans to develop a waste treatment centre in conjunction with the Port of Waterford company have now been abandoned.

Port company chairman Ben Gavin said last night that the news came via a phone call to the authority on Friday. He said it was difficult to quantify the potential loss to the port company as it was to be on a profit-sharing basis with the port putting up the site.

The proposed facility at Belview would have seen domestic waste that currently goes to landfill diverted to Belview where the materials were to be treated to produce a high quality fuel called Stabilat. No incineration of the residual fuel was to be involved in the process proposed for the Belview facility.

The port chairman said while the news was a disappointment, it was not the end of the road for the site. “All deals are off now, as far as we are concerned. We are disappointed. It was a business opportunity which we could have shared in.

“But we still have the site and we’ve lost nothing so far. There will be others interested in it,” he said.