MIKE HEDGES AM CALLS ON WELSH GOVERNMENT TO BAN NEW
INCINERATORS FOR NON MEDICAL WASTE
Speaking after the Plenary session at the Assembly, Swansea
East AM, Mike Hedges said… ‘I live in an area with high asthma rates and high
rates of other respiratory diseases. Some of the schools in my constituency
have the highest incidents of childhood asthma in Swansea and the figures are
rising all of the time. Improving air quality ought to be a no brainer; one way
to do this would be to ban any development of new incinerator facilities,
especially ones which burn plastic, building waste and unpleasant products.
Science changes, and if we discover in
future years that PM2.5s and PM10s cause more damage than we now realise, it
will be too late for the health of people with respiratory diseases, better to
stop the development of incinerators now.’
16:40
I welcome
the statement. One of the problems we have is that PM2.5s and PM10s cannot be
seen, but they do damage to lungs by irritating and corroding the alveolar wall
and, consequently, impair lung function. We need clean air. Will the Minister,
in conjunction with ministerial colleagues, consider the following: banning new
incinerators except for medical incinerators to deal with pathogens; produce
plans to reduce air pollution in areas such as Hafod and Fabian Way in Swansea,
where it is not the speed limit but the slow-moving and stationary vehicles
that are causing the problem; and, finally, banning the burning of waste by
individuals in their gardens, which often includes plastics and other items
that do serious damage to the air? 295
I'm
certainly very happy to have those discussions with a range of ministerial colleagues.
Clearly, air quality is a matter across Government, and it's certainly
discussed in Cabinet. But I will look at all those issues and write to you
further
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