Sign The Petition
We have created a petition asking Derry City Council to:
Halt moves towards incineration (or “gasification”) of waste.
It is available both as a paper petition that can be downloaded and printed and as an online petition that can be signed here.
- You can visit the online petition against gasification at Change.org and sign it now.
- Or you can download the paper petition against gasification. Why not download it, print it out and take it around your neighbours?
By the end of April, unless we act, Derry City Council are scheduled to sign a contract that will tie us into the gasification of not just our own waste but the waste from six other borough councils as well as other ‘unidentified’ waste for at least the next 25 years! With the stroke of a pen it will make Derry the dumping ground of North West polluting our air, our river and lough and the surrounding countryside.
The gasification facility has already received full planning permission but has yet to secure its operating license and contract. Stopping the signing of the contract is therefore vital!
Alarmed that there is little knowledge of this development in a city that has twice rejected a waste incinerator, an ad hoc group has come together to inform the public!
Why are we alarmed?
Although the ‘spin’ from council is that gasification is an environmentally friendly way to deal with our waste, while creating renewable energy, in reality in terms of its harmful effects: gasification = incineration!
What’s the difference?
Incineration burns waste directly releasing toxic gases into the atmosphere in the process, leaving toxic ash that must be disposed in landfill sites. Gasification heats the waste in a sealed chamber denying it sufficient oxygen to be able to fully burn. This produces gas and a toxic ash/slag. This ash/slag again has to be disposed of landfill sites. Meanwhile the gas is burned in boiler to generate electricity and again toxins are released into the atmosphere.
Why are we opposed to this facility?
- Increased risk of cancer and respiratory disease through exposure to mercury and dioxins. These toxins are persistent and bioaccumulative; they resist breakdown in the environment and are concentrated in the food chain.
- Waste gasification adds both directly and indirectly to the build-up of greenhouse gasses in the earth’s atmosphere.
- Many of the materials that provide the best fuel for a gasification facility are the sorts of things most easily re-used, recycled and composted. This facility takes us in the wrong direction requiring us to feed it 120,000 tonnes of waste annually.
What we think should happen
- At this point in our understanding of global warming, Derry should be doing its part to move us in the direction of zero waste.
- We should seize the opportunity of creating new sustainable employment in environmentally sound waste management enterprises and an associated industry.
- We should be protecting and enhancing the environmental status of the Lough Foyle area rather than threatening this vital ecosystem.
You need to be a member of Transition Derry to add comments!
Join Transition Derry