Incinerators ‘should not get cohesion funds’

14 October 2011, ENDS Europe

MEPs and member states must ban the use of EU cohesion funds for incinerator projects when they legislate on the European Commission’s package of proposals to overhaul cohesion policy, according to green group CEE Bankwatch.

The NGO deplores that the commission’s proposed package does not to exclude incinerators from the list of projects eligible for cohesion funding, even though such projects continue to receive significant amounts of EU funds.

CEE Bankwatch found that the Czech government was planning to build three new waste incineration plants at a cost of €180m from the current EU budget. These plants are three times more costly than mechanical-biological treatment plants.

The Czech Republic is already well behind other EU member states on its waste recycling targets, so it should be doing more to dispose of waste in an environmentally friendly way, a CEE Bankwatch spokesperson told ENDS on Friday.

According to feasibility studies conducted for the Czech government, the proposed incineration plants are justified because they generate heat for the municipality and can control waste management for the entire region, says the NGO.

Another NGO – EEB – has also complained that the proposed cohesion reform pays little attention to the environment. There have also been calls to stop funding landfill projects in eastern Europe, but the package makes no explicit reference to landfill.