Displaying items by tag: Ireland

Ireland: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has postponed a four-day hearing over Irish Cement’s alternative fuel (AF) licence application, scheduled for May 2020, to an as yet unspecified date due to the coronavirus. Under the terms of the proposed licence, Irish Cement will be able co-process a maximum of 90,000t/yr of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), including tyres, in the single dry line of its 1.0Mt/yr Mungret plant in County Limerick. The EPA said that emissions from operations under the terms of the licence ‘will meet all required environmental protection standards.’

Irish Cement received its preliminary licence to burn refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in September 2019. The move attracted local resistance, with 4500 people participating in a protest on 5 October 2019.

The EPA has said that it will give all relevant parties notice ‘well in advance’ of the date of the rescheduled hearing, which will take place after the government lifts the country’s coronavirus lockdown. On 14 April 2020 County Limerick had 234 coronavirus cases out of an Irish total of 10,647.

Ireland: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scheduled a four-day oral hearing in which it will review Irish Cement’s application for a permanent licence to co-process a maximum of 90,000t/yr of tyres and other waste materials as fuel in the single dry kiln of its 1.0Mt/yr Limerick plant in County Limerick. Irish Cement received its preliminary licence to burn refuse-derived fuel (RDF) in September 2019. The Irish Times newspaper has reported that 5000 local residents have since petitioned the EPA against permitting the practice, including ex-Irish rugby international Paul O’Connell and a former Love Island contestant.

The EPA said that emissions from operations conducted in accordance with the proposed licence ‘will meet all required environmental protection standards.’

Ireland: The Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted a licence to CRH subsidiary Irish Cement for the incineration of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), including tyres, plastics and animal tissues at its 1.0Mt/yr integrated cement plant in Mungret, County Limerick. The Limerick Leader has reported that it will be the second of Irish Cement’s two plants to transition from fossil fuels, after its Platin plant in Meath. The company has said that the intended upgrade is vital to the plant’s future and will create security for its 80 employees, in addition to generating 60 jobs throughout the course of its installation. 4500 people supported Limerick Against Pollution (LAP) in lobbying the EPA against granting its permission following the decision of the Irish planning appeals board An Bord Pleanála in favour of the installation. LAP has 28 days in which to appeal the EPA’s ruling. A protest march will take place in the city of Limerick in October 2019.

The company’s 2009 incineration licence for its Limerick plant expired due to inactivity. It announced its renewed intention for RDF usage at the plant in December 2015.

UK/Ireland: Geminor says it has been engaged in a partnership with MSC transporting refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and solid-recovered fuel (SRF) from the UK and Ireland since February 2019. The first shipments were transported from Barking and Nottingham, UK to Aalborg, Denmark. This will be followed up by container shipments from Birmingham, UK to Habberstad, Sweden and Dublin, Ireland to Greece. The shipments are based on so-called ‘backload,’ where empty containers are used to reduce the price.

“Moving waste from the UK to Scandinavia can also be completed with trailers, but we will continue to use containers where this is the best option. Currently we are moving containers with RDF and SRF from Dublin to Greece and Spain, where container shipment is a more efficient way of transport,” said Oliver Caunce, Senior Account Manager at Geminor UK.

Ireland: The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) says it requires more information on Irish Cement’s plans to use alternative fuels and raw materials at its Limerick plant before it can grant it a licence. The request has delayed the decision by the environmental body on whether the cement producer can co-process alternative fuels at the site.

It has asked the cement producer to provide more information on: waste acceptance capacity; raw materials, intermediates, products used or generated on-site; best available technology; emissions to atmosphere; human health; hydrology and hydrogeology; appropriate assessment; accidents and disasters; and baseline reports. The EPA added that before it could conduct a licence review it must out a ‘thorough’ environmental assessment of the proposals in the review application, including an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and an appropriate assessment. The EPA also said that it had received over 3500 individual public submissions on the application by Irish Cement.

Irish Cement wants to implement a Euro10m upgrade to its plant. This will include the development of land to facilitate on site handling, storage and introduction of alternative fuels with conveyor, storage tanks, uploading station, handling building, cooling tower and associated ancillary work. It first announced plans to co-process alternative fuels at the plant in late 2015.

Ireland: Irish Cement has been granted planning permission by An Bord Pleanala for its plans to burn tyres and tyres and solid recovered waste at its Limerick plant. Local councils originally approved the project in 2017 but this was appealed to the national An Bord Pleanala following local protests. Environmental groups say they will continue to fight the plan.

Ireland: Irish Cement has been designated a national priority site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The subsidiary of CRH has been placed on a list of eight industrial sites that have failed to meet the necessary environmental standards. Six of the sites accounted for more than half of the complaints made to the EPA in 2017. The agency plans to update its priority list on a quarterly basis.

Ireland: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has warned Irish Cement to improve its environmental performance or face further sanction. The cement producer’s plant in Limerick, along with four other industrial sites belonging to other companies, have been identified on a National Priority Site List for enforcement. It added that these five sites represented less than 1% of EPA licensed sites but accounted for 8% of EPA site inspections completed so far in 2017. Three of the five sites has also accounted for over half of all complaints received to-date in 2017.

“A small number of sites have significant compliance issues and we consider them to be National Priority Sites for enforcement. The EPA will escalate enforcement action against companies and their directors, if necessary, if compliance does not improve,” said Gerard O’Leary, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement.

Ireland: An Bord Pleanála (ABP), a government planning body, will decide by 8 August 2017 on a planning appeal by Irish Cements about its proposed upgrade at its Limerick cement plant. The Euro10m upgrade includes the development of land to facilitate on site handling, storage and introduction of alternative fuels with conveyor kiln, storage tanks, uploading station, handling building, cooling tower and associated ancillary work. If the appeal is successful then the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will decide if the cement producer can have a licence to burn waste fuels at the site, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. Irish Cements has faced local opposition against its plans for the site.

Ireland: Limerick City and County Council has given permission for Irish Cement to co-process alternative fuels at its local cement plant. Permission has been granted subject to 16 conditions, according to the Limerick Leader newspaper. The cement producer has been seeking a licence to use solid recovered waste and tyres at its plant but it has faced local opposition.