XR activists stir outrage in incinerator protest
EXTINCTION Rebellion activists held another day of protest in Cardiff yesterday. The environmental campaigners set up a blockade at the Viridor incinerator site at Trident Park in Splott.
They said they were highlighting what they say is the injustice of plans to build a second incinerator in the area by giant incinerator group Mor Hafren. The £150m energy plant is planned for Newlands Road in the east of the city.
Melissa Carrington, an environmental consultant, said: “Building more incinerators based upon a ‘waste to energy’ model does not support the transition to a low-carbon economy but it provides an economic use for waste, which helps to keep the public hooked on overconsumption.”
Local resident Catherine McArthur, who is opposing the plans, said: “This incinerator will be situated just 700 metres from Eastern High School, where my children go to school, and we are outraged.
“Cardiff East is becoming a dumping-ground for everyone else’s rubbish.”
Extinction Rebellion Cymru is calling upon members of the public to contact their MPs to ask them to back the Climate and Ecological Bill.
The group has held protests across Cardiff this week, including a demonstration at the new BBC Wales headquarters in Central Square and blocking Bute Terrace.
Protesters say that hundreds of residents within the CF3 postcode area of the city, including Llanrumney, Rumney, Tremorfa, St Mellons and Trowbridge, have been campaigning against plans for the new incinerator since September 2019.
Ms McArthur added: “The World Health Organisation advises that incinerators should not be built in residential areas, let alone next to a school.
“It is scandalous to disregard the health of Wales’ future generations and it’s hypocritical of the Welsh Assembly to even consider this application as it places them in breach of their own Future Generations Act, as well as any aspirations they have to move towards a zerowaste, circular economy.
“What future is there if your postcode automatically puts you at risk by the air you breathe?”
South Wales Police said yesterday that there were no arrests and that no-one was inside the incinerator building, despite earlier claims that eight people were locked in on its second floor.