JACKIE KEANEY,
Sir, - We would like the opportunity to comment on two Letters to the Editor (August 16th and 19th) regarding the Waste Mountain series of articles.
Indaver believes in the Proximity Principle and the fact that hazardous waste should be treated as close as possible to source. We do import about 10 per cent of the hazardous waste treated at our facility in Antwerp but most of this comes from countries such as Ireland which do not have waste management infrastructure for the disposal of their own hazardous waste. If Belgium and other countries did not facilitate Ireland in this way, we would not be able to host the very successful pharmaceutical industry that exists here, with the obvious implications for the Irish economy.
In addition we also import some material from Holland but it must be remembered that the Dutch border is less than 10 km from our Antwerp plant.
As we have stated on numerous occasions, we are not planning to import hazardous waste for disposal at Ringaskiddy. In addition, the EPA can exercise the authority, if it wishes, to ban the import of waste to our facility.
Our comment that Indaver has received less hostility towards the proposed Ringaskiddy Waste Management Facility has been taken out of context. We said there was less hostility to this project because there was a greater understanding of the need for a hazardous waste management facility in Cork because of the presence of a large pharmaceutical industry in the region. - Yours, etc.,
JACKIE KEANEY, Communications Manager, Indaver Ireland, Dublin