19 April 2016
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
An Oral Hearing into Indaver’s proposal to develop a €160 million Resource Recovery Centre in Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork, is due to begin at 10.30am today at the Carrigaline Court Hotel.
Protestors against the incinerator will voice their concerns outside beforehand, and many will also speak at the hearing itself. This is the third time an incinerator has been proposed by a private company for Ringaskiddy.
John Ahern, Managing Director, Indaver said, “we look forward to participating in an open and transparent planning process. Our proposed development is fully in line with national, regional and local waste management policy, as outlined in the National Spatial Strategy, the Southern Region Waste Management Plan and the Cork County Development Plan. This policy position was acknowledged and reinforced recently by Cork County Council in its report to An Bord Pleanála”.
“As a nation, we currently generate more than two million tonnes of residual municipal waste annually, much of which is exported for disposal abroad. This reliance on exporting our waste is not sustainable and exposes us to market shocks. Our site in Ringaskiddy is located in an area zoned for industrial activity and is designated an Industrial Area and a Strategic Employment Area. The Cork County Development Plan notes that such locations are suitable for large-scale waste treatment facilities, including waste-to-energy facilities”, concluded Mr. Ahern.
Indaver has been careful to design its proposed Ringaskiddy facility to reflect a corporate campus style, suitable to the surrounding environs. Indeed, the development will involve amenity enhancements worth at least €750,000, including an upgrade of the local road to prevent flooding, high-quality landscaping to contribute to the area’s developing campus style environment, and a public walkway from Gobby Beach to the Martello Tower.
Indaver has also committed to putting a community fund in place as part of its development plans. The fund will be based on a cost per tonne of waste treated annually at its Ringaskiddy facility. This is expected to amount to more than €300,000 per year to fund local infrastructure, sports, arts and heritage projects.
Following a number of wave modelling studies commissioned as part of its EIS, Indaver included coastal protection measures in order to mitigate against potential erosion. The proposed coastal protection measures are a soft solution which will not have a negative impact on the coastline in the vicinity of the site.
Indaver is currently participating in a tendering process initiated last year by Cork County Council with regard to the future of the Bottlehill site. The company’s expression of interest, which is referenced in its Ringaskiddy Resource Recovery Centre planning application, involves the landfilling of non-hazardous, inert bottom ash. A potential use for bottom ash is as a raw material in road construction, which provides an alternative to earth and aggregates.
On January 13th, 2016, Indaver submitted a planning application to An Bord Pleanála for a 240,000 tonne per annum waste-to-energy facility in Ringaskiddy. The proposed facility will treat household, commercial, industrial, non-hazardous and suitable hazardous waste, generating approximately 18.5MW of electricity for export to the national grid.
