Friends of the Earth Cardiff Cyfeillion y Ddaear Caerdydd

Cardiff County Council's planning committee rejected Viridor's first application for a huge, polluting and wasteful incinerator at Trident Park, Glass Avenue, Splott in June 2009. The reason the planning committee gave was that waste would be brought to be burnt in the incinerator from outside the local area.

Viridor submitted an appeal to the National Assembly for Wales against the decision in October 2009. The public inquiry for the appeal will be held in July 2010.

Waste company Viridor has announced plans to build a massive incinerator in Cardiff Bay to dispose of our rubbish.

If approved, it would:

• be capable of burning three times as much rubbish as Cardiff sends to landfill sites every year
• take waste from across south Wales
• discourage more efforts to increase recycling and composting

Cardiff Friends of the Earth says

Anti-incinerator protest planned for planning meeting on 11 March 2009

Members of Cardiff Friends of the Earth are inviting people to join them and other local residents in a demonstration outside Cardiff City Hall at 1.30 pm on Wednesday (11 March), as the council's planning committee rules on proposals for a large waste incinerator in the city.

Cardiff Friends of the Earth have submitted an objection to Viridor's planning application to Cardiff County Council Planning Department.

The objection, compiled for Cardiff Friends of the Earth by the South East Wales Friends of the Earth Waste Group, objects to the planning application on the following grounds:

It is not just Cardiff, or even just South Wales, communities that will be adversely affected by the incinerator if Viridor's planning application is approved – communities in Cheltenham are concerned about the impact of the toxic fly ash from the Cardiff incinerator which will be dumped within 0.5km of some homes.

Haf Elgar (Friends of the Earth Cymru), Councillor Gavin Cox, Heather Webber, Anne Greagsby (Green Santa), Adam Johannes, Jenni Swettenham, Colin Robinson, Julian Rosser, Councillor Martin Holland

Photo: Chris Brown, Cardiff Friends of the Earth.

Viridor have admitted that in order to fill their 350,000 tonnes per year incinerator with rubbish will require an extra 256 waste lorries every day.

This is a 3 per cent increase in traffic congestion and pollution for Cardiff residents as the lorries bring in rubbish from all over south Wales to the site on Ocean Way.

On Saturday 7th June, Cardiff Friends of the Earth ran a stall at the annual Fete of the Earth which was held in the Friary. Fete of the Earth is an environmental street festival organised by Cardiff Sustainable Education Network aimed at raising awareness of sustainability and how to combat climate change.

James Maiden from Cardiff Friends of the Earth handing Chair of the Environmental Scrutiny Committe, Simon Wakefield, a Message in a Bottle

Has Cardiff Council got the bottle?