Incinerator plan is a health risk

Aug 28 2009 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

DEAR Editor, – Since the proposal for an incinerator to be built at Friarton came to light, there have been continuous articles and letters in the local Press, with strong rhetoric from MP Pete Wishart (SNP), local Councillor Peter Barrett (Lib/ Dems), Peter Lyburn (Conservative candidate) – and now we have Perthshire Chamber of Commerce joining the fray.

What I have found astonishing is most of the rhetoric of their objections has been around the aesthetic.

Phrases which have been used include: ‘the carbuncle’; the ‘blot on the landscape’; the stack ‘would cover the size of a football pitch’; and ‘the biggest, ugliest building ever considered in our beautiful city.’

I believe this incinerator will damage tourism in Perth.’

Surely, we should be objecting to all incinerators being built in the first place because of the dangers they can cause to human health and the environment.

Reports suggest that the incineration is hazardous to human health, because of fine particulates and chemicals that damage the lungs and cause other diseases.

The Baldovie incinerator in Dundee breached the emissions limit for toxic and potentially cancer-causing chemicals in June of last year.

In June of this year, the Scottish Parliament endorsed Green Party opposition plans for a new generation of incinerators which are now re-branded as ‘energy from waste’ plants.’

The Scottish Government is meant to be pursuing a policy for zero waste.

‘Energy from waste’ plants are fundamentally incompatible with a zero waste policy.

There are alternative methods of waste treatment that are less harmful to human health and to the environment, e.g. anaerobic digestion, gasification and plasma gasification produce far fewer dangerous emissions.

Why then are Perth and Kinross Council perpetuating a culture of waste not only with the Friarton Incinerator, but also with the Binn Farm incinerator in order that private companies can make money from it?

Now that the Binn Farm incinerator has been mentioned, it is a pity that everyone who has been stalwartly fighting against the Friarton incinerator had not put as much effort into fighting the Binn Farm incinerator at Abernethy (which Perth and Kinross Council has already granted) like the Tayside Environmental Action Group (TEAG) and the Abernethy Community Council.

If they think the toxins and carbon emissions coming from the Binn Farm incinerator are going to stop at Kinnoull Hill and not enter the ‘beautiful’ city of Perth, then they really are living in the clouds and this is not a good place to be.

Jack Cockin,

Perth Branch,

Green Party.