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. ------------------------ 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.

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

Prosiect Gwyrdd? Project Greenwash

Cardiff Against the Incinerator Benefit/Social

Burning Money P Gwyrdd/Gwyrdd £1.1 bn PFI

£1.1 billion PFI P Gwyrdd/Information Mis Infomation Road Show
We will be demonstrating at the 'drop in' sessions in spite of the short notice at the following dates and times in the locations shown below.
• 7 March (11 am till 2 pm): Fochriw Community Centre, Fochriw.
• 8 March (5 pm till 8 pm): St David’s Community Centre, Rhymney.
• 9 March (5 pm till 8 pm): Corporate Suite, Civic Offices, Holton Road, Barry
• 10 March (5 pm till 8 pm): NISV Football Stadium, Newport.
• 11 March (11 am till 2 pm): NISV Football Stadium, Newport.
• 14 March (11 am till 2 pm): County Hall, Cardiff Bay.
• 15 March (5 pm till 8 pm): Splott Bowls Pavilion, Cardiff.
• 16 March (11 am till 2 pm): Palmerston Community Centre, Barry
• 19 March (10 am till 4pm): Abergavenny High Street, Abergavenny.

Shoving waste up a chimney isnt the answer

Letter to the Echo

Dear Editor,

Clive Bates (Viewpoints, January 20) argues that 'stringent Euro-standards' make nonsense of claims about the dangers from dumping a giant waste incinerator in Splott.

Yet he must know that there are no regulations to deal with emissions such as PM1s and smaller nano-particles.

The South Wales Echo reported the excellent talk given by Dr van Steenis in Ystrad Mynach recently. He revealed how these very dangerous minute particles reach the base of the lung and enter the bloodstream, where metals and other chemicals in them may dissolve. 

There are no provisions for monitoring these nano-particle emissions.

Although research is in still in the early stages, warning signals have been found in DNA damage.

Mr Bates also claims that it is best to recover energy by burning residual waste. Yet an expert in 'zero waste' technology, Professor Paul Connett, told a meeting in Cardiff that the best option is to reduce residual waste to a minimum, through more intensive recycling and sorting. 

We are way behind the 75 per cent recycling levels achieved elsewhere in Britain and Europe. Shoving more waste up a chimney and spewing toxic emissions into the air will undermine recycling, not increase it - especially when Mr Bates and his colleagues are proposing to subsidise incineration by up to £9 million a year through Project Gwyrdd.

As if companies like Viridor are not making big enough profits already from incineration - up 29 per cent in the latest half-year to £29 million.

And far from helping to 'tackle climate change', burning more rubbish produces far more carbon emissions (eg. from oil-based plastics) than it saves through electricity generation.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Griffiths

Chair, Cardiff Against the Incinerator

Note for editors: Robert Griffiths can be contacted on 07790 884137 

This letter was a response to the Welsh Assembly Clive Bates Director General, Sustainable Futures Read More

Our petition to Welsh Assembly

The petitions committee have responded;

'The committee agreed to:

• Write to Cardiff Council asking for details of how they consulted on the incinerator plans prior to planning application being granted, highlighting the concerns of the petitioners about the robustness of the process, and asking what monitoring, safeguards and restrictions are in place;
• Write to Environment Agency Wales highlighting the petitioners concerns and asking for more details on the assessment process undertaken prior to the environmental permit being granted.