Bottom ash is more hazardous, not less

I refer to your article about Indaver in talks to bury 40,000t of ash at Bottlehill, North of Cork, in April 14th’s Irish Examiner.

Mr Ahern, Indaver’s managing director, Ireland, says that only “non-hazardous ash” would be buried at Bottlehill.

Non-hazardous ash is a misnomer as all incinerator ash, fly ash and bottom ash, is hazardous.

To quote from the report by Drs Jeremy Thompson and Honor Anthony, ‘The Health Effects of Waste Incinerators, Sect.10.1, June, 2008’, “Bottom ash Is a less severe hazard {than fly ash} but still contains significant quantities of dioxins, organohalogens and heavy metals.

“It is extraordinary that whereas regulations have tightened in recent years to reduce dioxin emissions to air, bottom ash which contains 20 times more dioxin, is unregulated and bizarrely is regarded as inert waste.”

This same report also points out that the EU and the USA’s EPA believe hazardous waste will over time likely leach through their liners (the USA believes this is always the case).

This would seriously damage our water, crops and health, if not in the immediate future, then in the time of our grandchildren.

Do we really want to hand down such a legacy to future generations?

Chris Ramsden,

Co-chairman of CHASE,

Monkstown,

Glenbrook,

Passage West Branch.