Archive - Tuesday, 28 September 2004


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Incinerator 'unlikely' to restart

A RESTART of the Shanks waste incinerator is "highly unlikely", according to experts at the Environment Agency.

Dr Helen Phillips, director of the EA in Wales, made her comments in a letter to Torfaen AM Lynne Neagle.

Ms Neagle contacted the agency following changes in waste regulations brought in by the Hazardous Waste Directive in July.

The new regulations mean a massive reduction in the number of landfill sites available nationally for the disposal of commercial hazardous waste.

Ms Neagle feared that could mean it would be economically viable to restart the furnaces at Shanks' New Inn plant (formerly Rechem).

Shanks stopped operations at New Inn in March 2002. The company said the decision was made on economic grounds and that incineration could restart should market conditions change.

In her letter, Dr Phillips admitted there would be a "major shortfall in our capacity to treat and dispose of hazardous waste safely" as a result of the new regulations.

She called on the Government to work with local authorities to produce a national solution.

But she added: "In terms of the closed incinerator at Pontypool, recent discussions between the South East area team and the company have not suggested a likely restart of the plant irrespective of changes in the waste market."

She said items of plant had been removed from the site and there would be "significant regulatory hurdles" to overcome before any restart.

She concluded: "It is our opinion, therefore, that recommencement of hazardous waste incineration at the Pontypool site is highly unlikely, though ultimately you should remember that is a commercial decision for the company."

Ms Neagle said: "I am heartened by that. It is encouraging that items have been removed from Pontypool to be used elsewhere. That is an additional barrier to any restart.

"I am fixing a date to meet with Shanks representatives to discuss closing the plant permanently."

A spokesman for Shanks said: "The market has not changed. The landfill directive does not affect our market. We have utilised plant on the site that we could use elsewhere.

" We would have to invest substantially if we wanted to re-open the facility. We retain the option of reviewing what the market will do."

Dorothy Preece, a member of Mothers and Children Against Toxic Waste, said: "If nothing is going to happen at the site it should be demolished so it would be gone once and for all."