Greenstar moves to increase capacity of Knockharley landfill once again

Proposals for an electricity generating facility at the Knockharley landfill site in Kentstown are expected to meet widespread opposition from the local community over the coming months. Controversial plans by Greenstar Ltd to increase the capacity of the site and construct a biodegradable waste treatment facility, which would generate electricity by burning methane, is to be treated as a Strategic Infrastructure Development (SID), leading to claims that east Meath has "become the waste capital of Leinster". An Bord Pleanala has ruled that the development should be treated as an SID, which means the planning process can now bypass Meath County Council and go directly to An Bord Pleanala for decision. Greenstar Ltd, the company which operates the facility, is now expected to apply for planning permission to increase the footprint of the landfill facility, an increase in the rate of waste acceptance from 132,000 tonnes per annum to 200,000 tonnes and to construct a facility for the treatment of municipal biodegradable waste by anaerobic digestion. The facility would allow the generation of 6mW of electricity from the burning of methane emissions from the landfill. Widespread opposition to the development is expected. Knockharley and District Residents Association vice-chairman, Fergal O'Byrne, said local residents hadn't met to discuss the proposals but he believed there would be strong objections to the plans. He said the proposals vindicated earlier claims that the east Meath area would become the waste capital of Leinster and warned the proposal would increase traffic in an already heavily trafficked area. Mr O'Bryne pointed out that the facility already had a poor record on odour control, being the most complained about site in the country in both 2007 and 2008. He said the new proposals were a device to keep the facility in business but went totally against the spirit of the new waste directive which comes into force next month and which aims to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill. According to the Bord Pleanala inspector's report on the SID application, the proposed development would facilitate acceptance of waste from outside the north-east region and the treatment plant would be built in two phases, each with the capacity to treat 45,000 tonnes per annum. The original planning permission granted to Greenstar in 2002 stated the maximum rate of waste acceptance would be 132,000 tonnes per annum until December 2007 when the annual tonneage would be reduced 88,000 tonnes. In 2008, the board granted permission to allow the acceptance of 132,000 tonnes of waste until December this year and 88,000 thereafter. Last year, the board refused permission to increase the rate of waste intake to 400,000 tonnes per annum until the capacity of the landfill was exhausted.