A New waste management plan for Connacht recommends siting a thermal treatment plant or incinerator on one of four potential sites in the Galway city area.
The draft plan, which was presented to Galway County Council on Friday, earmarks the Galway docks, Castlegar, to the east of the Headford road, Brockagh near the Tuam road, and Coolagh/Ardaun just inside the city boundary, as suitable locations for the plant.
The plan also recommends that two regional residual landfill sites be developed by January 2006 - one in the Galway region, and one in the Ballaghadereen/Charlestown area on the Mayo/Roscommon border. Existing landfills should be upgraded in the interim.
The council suspended discussion of the plans pending an information visit to Europe later this month.
The thermal treatment plant would handle 150,000 to 200,000 tonnes of waste annually from five counties, and would form part of an integrated approach to waste management, including waste reduction, recycling, energy recovery and residual landfill in the province, the study states.
Conducted by M.C. O'Sullivan Consulting Engineers, in association with COWI, a Danish engineering and planning consultancy, the draft plan is complementary to a parallel strategy drawn up for Galway. It covers Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Roscommon.
Speculation that Oranmore might be considered as one of the potential sites for an incinerator has been ruled out, thanks to a recommendation in the recently published and much delayed Buchanan land use and transportation study for Galway.
That study favours Oranmore as a location for Galway regional airport, which is currently located at Carnmore. Mr P.J. Rudden of M.C. O'Sullivan said there was no question of Oranmore being considered at any stage.
Factors excluding areas for consideration included the location of existing and proposed airports; proposed natural heritage areas; and all zoned lands other than agricultural or commercial/industrial in the city/county development plans.
The study lists industries in Galway with high heat requirements which might benefit from power/heat generated by a thermal treatment plant - including Thermo King Europe, Dawn Dairies, Thomas McDonagh and Sons, Boston Scientific, Nortel and AVE Ireland.
It also identifies district heating as a possibility in areas with a high projected population growth - such as the Ardaun corridor.
The type of thermal treatment would depend on tenders, but would fulfil all EU and national environmental criteria, the consultants stress.
The study says that the emerging technologies of gasification and pyrolysis are "likely to be appropriate" in the Galway/Connacht regional context.
Landfill, on which the consultants aim to reduce dependence, has already proved controversial in the Connacht waste-management debate.
The interim use of Poolboy in Ballinasloe as a "superdump" was a contentious subject in last June's local elections, and has been revived again by confirmation that preventative measures have had to be taken to stop hazardous waste being dumped there.
The consultants state that the "current proactive policy" of public education and involvement in developing Galway's future waste infrastructure should continue, with particular focus on waste recovery complemented by recycling.
