Part of the implementation of the Waste Management Plan for Dublin includes the building of a thermal treatment plant to deal with 25% of Dublin’s waste.  The preferred site for this plant is on the Poolbeg Peninsula.  The proposed thermal treatment plant is being developed in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between Dublin City Council (acting on behalf of the four local authorities in Dublin) and Elsam, a Danish company.

The application for planning approval to An Bord Pleanala and for a licence to the EPA have now been submitted. Both of these applications require the production of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).   An EIS is the end product of a process, which examines the potential environmental consequences of a development, before the development takes place and identifies possible mitigation measures that can be implmented to offset any potential negative environmental consequences.  The applications and the accompanying EIS are available for members of the public to view and make submissions on to either An Bord Pleanala or the EPA.

For more information log on to /www.dublinwastetoenergy.ie

The following are a selection of objectives aimed at delivering a Waste to Energy Facility for the treatment of residual waste in the Dublin Region.

Developing capacity to recover energy from the residual waste of the Region is a critical element of the Dublin Waste Management Plan. This is required to meet obligations under the EU Landfill Directive, the Draft National Biodegradable waste Strategy, and the long-term targets of the Dublin Waste Plan.

• It is envisaged that a Thermal Waste Treatment Facility be developed on the Poolbeg Peninsula. This will have a capacity of approximately 400,000 to 600,000 tonnes/annum, and will treat non-hazardous municipal or similar waste.
   
• The Dublin Local Authorities are receptive to the inclusion of a Monitoring Committee being put in place to represent the public interest as regards the operation of the WTE facility.  Such a group could include the local community, objective national experts, and environmentalists.
   
• Energy Recovery at the facility will be achieved by generation of electricity which will feed into the National Grid.  In addition, the possibility of recovering further energy in the form of heat, utilising a district heating network, is being explored by Dublin City Council.
   
• The Poolbeg Waste to Energy Plant will potentially heat 30,000 homes and provide electricity through the National Grid for 42,000 homes. 

Waste disposal by landfill remains the main method of waste management in the Dublin Region. There are currently three principal non-hazardous waste landfills serving the Dublin Region:  

• Balleally Landfill,
• Arthurstown Landfill
• KTK Landfill

Over 59% of the household, commercial and industrial waste streams is disposed of to these landfills. 

Due to lack of disposal capacity, household waste from Counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow has been landfilled at the Arthurstown landfill in recent years, (via Thornton Waste transfer station) by agreement of the Dublin Local Authorities.

Existing Waste Disposal Facilities

 

Significant progress has been made since the Dublin Waste Management Plan 1998 regarding the improvement of standards at landfills in the Region with all facilities operating in compliance with the EU Landfill Directive and to the highest international standards. 

1. Balleally landfill accepts household, commercial and industrial waste from both public and private operators. It also accepts wastes that arise from Local Authority activities, for example litter and street sweepings. 
    
2. Arthurstown landfill located near Kill in Co. Kildare accepts only baled municipal waste. Three baling stations are currently in operation: Ballymount operated by SDCC/ ONYX joint venture and Thornton Waste Transfer on Killeen Road, Ballyfermot. In the past 2-3 years, some municipal waste from counties Meath. Kildare and Wicklow has been accepted for baling at the Thornton facility and landfilled at Arthurstown. 
   
   The KTK landfill at Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, is licensed to accept non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste excluding putrescible wastes, and is operated by Greenstar.  

All landfills currently serving the Dublin Region are nearing closure. The provision of additional landfill void space to serve the Region is therefore critical to avoid potential environmental impacts and substantial costs if Dublin’s waste has to be exported for disposal to other Regions or countries.  This is being addressed by the development of the proposed Fingal Landfill. Advancing the Fingal landfill is an urgent necessity for the Dublin Local Authorities and for the Region. 

A critical shortage of municipal landfill capacity is imminent and urgent delivery of the proposed Fingal landfill is required to replace exisiting facilities and provide adequate safe disposal capacity for residual waste in accordance with this Plan.  Even with the diversion of waste from landfill to the Dublin WTE facility there will remain a significant requirement for residual landfill disposal.

It is an objective of the current Waste Management Plan to provide a landfill (of up to 10 million tonne capacity). Fingal County Council have lodged a Planning Application including a detailed EIS with An Bord Pleanala and a Waste Licence Application and EIS with the EPA for the proposed site in Nevitt.

It is an objective to provide for the use of other available landfills within the greater Dublin Region in the event of lack of capacity within the Dublin Region.

Until such time as the Waste to Energy facility is operational, currently estimated to be 2012, the Region’s reliance on landfill will remain.

The preferred approach to manage this short-term waste disposal requirement is by:

• An additional short term extension to the Arthurstown Landfill in County Kildare.
  
• Maximising the use of available disposal (or energy recovery) facilities in the Greater Dublin Area, i.e. counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow if feasible
  
• Seek options for disposal capacity in other Regions if necessary.