Gormley: government agreed waste levies

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has denied trying to influence decisions on controversial incinerator projects by announcing plans to make incineration less profitable for waste companies.

Mr Gormley said yesterday he believed waste contractors should have to pay levies to use incinerators in the same way that they currently pay for landfill. He also said he was considering preventing local authorities from making so-called “put or pay” deals guaranteeing to supply incineration firms with public waste or pay them cash compensation if waste flows fall below the required level.

The minister and Green Party leader told an environmental conference that if incinerators were built, they would put back efforts to find alternative ways of tackling the country’s waste problem by 25 years. “The waste hierarchy is sacrosanct,” he said. “Reduce, reuse and recycle come first — incineration and landfill are at the very bottom.”