Details of green house gas reductions not justified in burning waste

national | environment | press release Tuesday June 04, 2019 22:14 by foie - Friends of the Irish Environment

Press Release - Friends of the Irish Environment 2nd June 2019

Irish Cement Factory’s burning Aughinish red mud ‘not fully assessed’
Details of green house gas reductions not justified in burning waste

The assessment of the use of toxic waste including red mud from Aughinish Aluminum as a fuel for the Irish Cement factory in Limerick has not been properly assessed, according to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment.

PRESS RELEASE
FRIENDS OF THE IRISH ENVIRONMENT
SUNDAY 2 JUNE 2019

Irish Cement Factory’s burning Aughinish red mud ‘not fully assessed’
Details of green house gas reductions not justified in burning waste

The assessment of the use of toxic waste including red mud from Aughinish Aluminum as a fuel for the Irish Cement factory in Limerick has not been properly assessed, according to the environmental charity Friends of the Irish Environment.

The proposal to convert the Mungret Cement Factory in Limerick to accept waste from a variety of sources, including tires and red mud from Aughinish aluminum, is under consideration for a license from the EPA.

Local residents fear that the toxic risks of the 450-acre Red Mud pond at Foynes will be brought to their homes as red mud is delivered, stored and incinerated in Mungret. According to FIE, the failure to properly assess the fuel is ‘causing high stress levels to residents which have a health impact in their own right’.

‘Failures in assessment undermine the legitimacy of the planning process’, the group alleges in a submission to the EPA last week. Citing 'dilute-and-disperse element of contaminants in cement’, the FIE submission says that ‘Carcinogenic PCBs, dioxins and furans, and heavy metals that are not thermally destroyed within the kiln may be encapsulated in the clinker and incorporated into the final cement product representing a risk during construction, occupation and demolition of buildings’. It cites risks from toxic dust emitted in the grinding process of subsequent cement-based products which they say have also not been properly considered.

FIE’s submission adds that ‘Nor have risks from pm10, dioxins, furans and heavy metals caused by unfiltered low temperature fugitive emissions from apertures, preheater towers, during routine maintenance, and emergencies’ impact on humans been acknowledged or assessed.

FIE’s objection to the plant also claims that ‘No-where in the EIS or other documents were there any details of how the claimed reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases are to be achieved.’

FIE alleges that the project undermines Ireland’s commitment to recycling and to the “circular economy” goals, which aim to keep resources in use for as long as possible with all plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2030.

There have been more than 4,000 objections to the proposal.

Read the submission

Contacts:
Tony Lowes +353 (0)27 74771 / +353 (0)87 2176316
Daithí Ó hÉalaithe (Irish language) +353 (0)87 6178852

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