Bratislava against Slovnaft's Plan to Build New Incinerator

Bratislava, April 24 (TASR) - Bratislava City Council disagrees with the plan of the Slovnaft refinery to build a large-capacity incinerator for processing imported municipal and hazardous waste in the capital city, according to a declaration adopted by city councillors on Thursday. Their most serious objections concern the inadequate capacity of the incinerator, an increase in damage to the environment and health, insufficiently assessed impacts in EIA proceedings and the burden on traffic and logistics. "The main reason for our disagreement concerns the protection of the health of local people and the unsuitable placing of the incinerator in an already heavily polluted area due to an accumulation of air pollution from several sources," stated the council. The council sees the main problem in the capacity of the proposed incinerator and the potential waste imported from other regions of Slovakia or from abroad. This will affect overall air pollution in Bratislava's districts of Petrzalka, Ruzinov, Podunajske Biskupice, Vrakuna and the new 'Down Town' district, as well as in the surrounding villages of Rovinka and Hamuliakovo. It objects to an insufficient assessment of the incinerator's cumulative impacts, as well as the lack of an in-depth analysis of the risks associated with the handling of fly ash and other combustion by-products that could contaminate the air, soil or water. It isn't clear to the council why no other variant for the incinerator's location has been included in the EIA. It also sees a problem in the planned unloading of waste on Slovnaft premises, as this could significantly increase cargo traffic in city areas that are already facing a huge traffic burden. Although the capital city recommended the use of rail transport, this hasn't been included among the project's binding parameters. ko/df