EU landfill fines will cost Ireland, hearing told

INCREASED bin charges, more taxation or increased state borrowing will have to be considered next year if we have to fork out up to €500,000 a day in EU fines for over reliance on landfills, the managing director of Indaver Ireland said.

John Ahern was speaking on day two of the An Bord Pleanála oral hearing in Cork into Indaver’s application to build two waste-to-energy incinerators, burning municipal and industrial waste, in Cork Harbour.

Next year the EU’s landfill directive comes into force and Ireland will have to reduce its landfill levels to 970,000 tonnes of biodegradable waste. However, out of the 1.77m tonnes of waste produced in 2006, less than 400,000 were recycled.