Tuesday 19 April 2011

BANISH THE 'BEST-BEFORE' DATE ??

South Wales WIN :Press release 


WalesOnline WalesOnline  

Best before date could be scrapped in Wales, as 410,000 tonnes of food are thrown away every year: http://bit.ly/gXXa9D


BANISH THE 'BEST-BEFORE' DATE ??
The call to banish the 'best before' date is misplaced, say South Wales WIN. People need proper information on what it means – that the food can and should still be consumed – but the main message on waste food should be to use the food-waste caddies and collection systems.

Such systems are being introduced by Councils throughout Wales, allowing the waste to be processed by anaerobic digestors or composting technology.

Waste Awareness Wales fails to encourage people to use the food waste collection systems because, we believe. they are working to WAG's pro-incineration agenda.

They wrongly say [1] most food-waste will be thrown in a landfill site, as modern regulations require pre-treatment of waste. Some methane gas results, but regulations require its capture. Official figures show methane emissions are now a relatively small problem [2].

Waste Awareness Wales is supporting alternative incineration of residual household waste. Yet food waste is wet and results in little energy, unlike anaerobic digestion that produces gas which is best cleaned and fed into the gas mains. WAG's waste policy ignores this best option, despite it being advocated by the National Grid.

Waste Awareness Wales is a propaganda outfit, funded entirely by WAG to support their policy to defer high recycling/composting till the 2020s with a limit of 70%, and subsidise incineration of up to 35% of the domestic waste stream. Their exaggeration of landfill methane serves this agenda and should be challenged.

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NOTE
[1] western mail 19 april 2011, Banish the 'best-before' date

[2] Wales's total landfill methane counted as CO2-equivalent is 34 000t/yr, compared with CO2 emissions from Wales Waste sector total CO2e of 13 000 000 t/yr (2007 figs.**). Covanta's proposed incinerator of 750 000t waste/yr would on its own emit CO2 at 800-900 000t/yr.

** Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1990 - 2007 AEAT/ENV/R/2873 Issue 1 report Sept.2009to DECC, WAG etc.

Sunday 3 April 2011

Parties must tell us where they stand on Incineration

Parties must tell us where they stand; VIEWPOINTS


South Wales Echo April 1, 2011
ACCORDING to a Plaid Cymru spokeswoman ("Plaid urged to stand by waste pledge", March 26), the party remains committed to opposing waste incineration.
Maximum recycling, composting and other advanced processes are indeed the genuinely "green" alternatives.
Meanwhile, residents and local businesses in Cardiff face the prospect of a huge incinerator being built in Trident Park, spewing out 350,000 tonnes of burning waste and pollutants all your round, ferried in by daily fleets of lorries - courtesy of the Plaid Cymru and LibDem-controlled Cardiff County Council.
And all this to the profit of big business, subsidised by local taxpayers through the humorously named "Prosiect Gwyrdd" (Green Project).
Now that the National Assembly's petitions committee and the Local Government Ombudsman for Wales are considering widespread local objections, I have a question for all candidates and parties in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Before polling day, will you make your position clear on building giant waste incineration schemes next to residential areas - are you for or against? ¦ Robert Griffiths Chair, Cardiff Against the Incinerator
Copyright 2011 Western Mail and Echo LtdAll Rights Reserved South Wales Echo

Please reply to cardiffagainsttheincinerator@gmail.com 

 Have you signed yet? e-Petition: No to Incineration
We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to revise its planning policy and policy on residual waste to provide a presumption against the building of incinerators, which send most of the carbon from waste into the air as CO2, emit ultra-fine particles that can be damaging to health, and create toxic ash. We believe that incineration is bad for the environment and bad for people