EPA restricts what can be burned by Irish Cement at Limerick plant

IRISH Cement has been told it can burn just 12 types of waste material in the production of the building material.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has imposed a reduction on the company, from the 63 it initially had permission to use, down to just 12 now.

It comes as the firm saw its €10m plans to switch away from fossil fuels in favour of solid recovered waste approved by the environmental regulator.

A previous An Bord Pleanala-led oral hearing into the proposals heard that Irish Cement was initially seeking to burn up to 115 different types of waste.

A list revealed then included items like “animal faeces, urine, and manure, (including spoiled straw), effluent, collected separately and treated off-site.”

The EPA initially reduced the numbers of waste types down to 63, and it has further cut it to 12 in its updated licence terms, which were published this morning.

Now, it says Irish Cement is only allowed to burn a limited number of types of waste.

These include tyres, paper and cardboard, plastic and rubber, wood, textiles, and sludge from water clarification.

However, animal tissue waste remains on the list, with Irish Cement permitted to incinerate up to 90,000 tonnes annually.

It remains to be seen if the new measures will satisfy some of the groups opposed to the proposals, with the burning of waste leading to concerns over public health due to the fumes from different elements entering the local environment.

Irish Cement has long maintained that because the burning would be taking place at such an extreme temperature, any impact on the local environment would be negligible.

It’s been told it cannot allow incineration to fall below 850 degrees Celsius.

A number of other strict conditions have been imposed on the firm should it wish to go through with the change of process.

These include that Irish Cement puts in place a public awareness programme, including specific outreach to local residents.

A community liaison must also be put in place, the EPA has stated.

Real-time data from process monitoring must also take place, as must a weekly summary of the monitoring data.

No landfilling is allowed to happen on site, while only waste originating in Ireland is allowed in Mungret.

Left over waste must be returned to its origin within 48 hours, with no “odour-causing” waste permitted.