Central Waste Management Facility - Site Selection
Background
The management of waste is an infrastructural requirement that is as essential as the provision of roads, water supply or sewerage. Without adequate waste management infrastructure Wexford County would not be in a position to develop at an acceptable rate. The Council’s role with respect to waste disposal is set out in the Waste Management Act 1996 as follows:
(Clause 38 - (1) "a Local Authority shall provide and operate, or arrange for the provision and operation of, such facilities as may be necessary for the recovery and disposal of household waste arising within its functional area"
On September 14th 1998, Wexford County Council adopted its Waste Management Plan, prepared in accordance with the Waste Management (Planning) Regulations 1997. Because the life of the current landfill facility at Killurin is limited, the stated policy, with respect to disposal, is that an alternative waste disposal site must be secured. This policy, combined with the Council’s policy on recovery and recycling, resulted in the commissioning of this study.
In parallel with the formulation of the Waste Management Plan for the County, the Council, in co-operation with its fellow members of the South East Regional Authority commissioned a Regional Waste Management Strategy. A draft Strategy was presented to each of the constituent local authorities (Counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary SR, Waterford, Wexford and Waterford Corporation).
The recommendations of the Strategy included reduction, minimisation, recycling, recovery, thermal treatment of the remaining waste and disposal of residuals. The Strategy was adopted by five of the constituent authorities, the exception being Wexford County Council which ruled out thermal treatment in its current form. As a result of this decision, the Council intends to pursue the establishment of an alternative waste disposal facility to Killurin as a matter of urgency.
The draft County Development plan which was adopted in June 6th 2000 contained the following statement:
"The County Council recognises the need for long term sustainable approach to waste management and supports the governments policy statement "Changing Our Ways" (1998). A Waste Management Plan has been prepared and is being implemented. The County Council supports the South East Regional Waste Management Strategy is so far as it does not conflict with the Council’s adopted policy on waste management and will actively co-operate with the Regional Authority in the areas of waste minimisation, re-use and recycling. The County Council considers that waste to energy incineration is unacceptable in its present form. New technologies will however be examined, as they become available."
In accordance with Government policy, Wexford County Council intends to minimise, reduce, recycle and recover a significant proportion of waste before disposing of the residual quantity. In parallel with the search for a suitable site, therefore, the Council’s policy is to establish appropriate infrastructure and practices to achieve these aims. It is intended that the site chosen will fulfil certain roles in relation to recovery, re-use, and recycling as well as its predominant role of final disposal. For this reason, the facility is being described as a Central Waste Management facility.
Statutory Process
To establish the facility, procedures as laid down by the EPA in the (draft) Site Selection Manual have been adopted. Briefly, these procedures include:
- Identify candidate areas;
- Identify possible sites;
- Identify probable sites;
- Identify candidate site;
- Environmental impact assessment and statement on candidate site;
- Waste licence application for candidate site;
- Proposed decision on application;
- Issue of licence;
- Site development.
Public participation, both directly and through public representatives, is an important part of the above process. In view of this, the Council intends to establish a consultative forum and will inform local groups of the current status of the site selection process. Over the coming weeks and months it is suggested that meetings will be held between the groups and the Council. The meetings will afford an opportunity for an exchange of information and opinion.
This report outlines the methodology used for site selection and reduces the number of candidate sites to a short-list of three. The next step is to choose one of the three sites (the candidate site) for full environmental impact assessment. To do this, each of the three short-listed sites will be subjected to further investigation to gather information that is not apparently available. This will necessitate the excavation of trial pits and drilling both through the overburden and through bedrock to determine both the physical and hydrogeological characteristics of the ground under the site. In addition, further information will be sought in relation to ecology, archaeology, land-use and the surface water regime on site. Using the additional information, the three short-listed sites will be ranked in order of suitability.
The preferred candidate site will then be subjected to environmental impact assessment (EIA). This leads to a preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This is both a rigorous scientific exercise and a public participation opportunity. Before the EIA commences, submissions will be invited both from the public and from other interested parties such as statutory bodies (e.g. Duchas, Eastern Fisheries Board and the Geological Survey of Ireland) and from non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s).
Arising out of the EIS, a decision will be made to proceed with the preferred site or to abandon it as the case may be. In the latter circumstances, the next preferred site would then be examined. If the EIS is favourable, the Council will proceed to make an application to the Environmental Protection Agency for a licence under the Waste Management Act of 1996.
The waste licensing process is public and transparent. The submission of the licence application will be advertised in advance and a site notice similar to a planning notice will be exhibited outside the site for one month after the making of the application. Similarly, the public may make submissions to the EPA who may require that further information be submitted by Wexford County Council during the period of assessment of the application.
In due course, the EPA will decide that it has sufficient information to make a decision and it will issue a proposed decision. Any members of the public, or the applicant, may object within four weeks of the making of the proposed decision. The EPA must take account of all objections in making its final decision. Additionally, the EPA may decide to hold an oral hearing, whether requested or not. If an oral hearing is held, all parties to the objections and the applicant may participate. Oral hearings are held in public and the press is usually represented.
If a decision is made to hold an oral hearing it will be heard by the EPA and, within a short period, the Agency will give its final decision.
Modern Practice
The history of waste management sites (usually landfills) is not good and people's perceptions are coloured by what has happened in the past. Waste management sites are seen as "dumps". There is no doubt that old practices were appalling and totally unacceptable and this fact is universally recognised.
Under the Waste Management Act 1996, the EPA is empowered to licence and monitor the performance of waste management activities. The effect of the EPA role is that there has been a significant change in the approach to site selection and construction. The EPA has laid down very strict guidelines for the site selection process and these have been adhered to in the process described in this report. The site itself must be constructed to the highest engineering and environmental standards. It must be properly managed by competent staff and measures must be taken to eliminate health hazards, burning refuse, vermin and flies. No scavengers will be allowed on the site. Birds and windblown litter will be strictly controlled. The site will not be obtrusive and will be well-screened from the public view. The entrance to the site will be neat and tidy and a permanent site manager will be put in place.
The existing landfill site at Killurin is also subject to the Act and its standards of performance are being monitored by the EPA. The site is licensed and compliance with the conditions of the licence will require expenditure of approximately IR£3.5M by Wexford County Council. This alone will result in an increase of IR£35 per tonne over the current cost of disposal (approximately equivalent to an extra cost of IR35 per household per annum).
Modern waste management sites have been in operation near Tralee in County Kerry (mixed waste) and at Kill, Co. Kildare (baled waste) for almost six years and three years respectively. There has been universal acceptance by visiting parties that the sites are well managed. In the case of Kill there had been huge controversy about this waste management site and yet the Irish Times, in a recent issue, reported very favourably on the site’s appearance and site operation, and wondered "what the fuss was all about", a sentiment that was echoed in subsequent RTE news programmes. Both landfills have been granted awards for excellence in design and construction.
Baling of waste is expensive (leading to an approximately 100% increase in disposal costs) and, because of economies of scale, is more suitable to large landfills such as Kill. By comparison, the facility proposed for Wexford is small. It is proposed that the landfill element of the proposed waste management facility be a fully-contained, cellular construction with waste being delivered loose and compacted on site.
Current Status
The search for a suitable site in County Wexford has been reduced to three possible locations. After further site investigation of the sites (described above), a candidate site will be chosen for environmental impact assessment. It is only when this assessment is completed that the site will be finally confirmed as the site for a central waste management facility for County Wexford.
