EU does not insist we build incinerators

IN your report headlined ‘Department warns An Bord Pleanála of risks from harbour incinerators’ (February 25), you quote the developer Indaver as saying “the incinerators are ‘must-have’ for this country if we want to avoid hefty EU levies for sending too much waste to landfill.”

EU Environment Minister Stavros Dimas, asked to comment on a similar statement by John Ahern of Indaver, on RTÉ radio, said last October: “The (EU) commission cannot impose fines on member states — such fines can only be imposed by the European Court of Justice as a result of an infringement case.”

European legislation, including the recently revised waste framework directive, does not prescribe any quotas for waste incineration, nor does it oblige member states to build waste incinerators if they do not wish to.