Anti Incinerator march a Success
Jules | 24.03.2002 15:31
Anti Incinerator protest, 23rd march 2002
This protest was aimed to bring pressure on the Environment Agency and raise public awareness
| The UK has been ordered by the EEC to clean up it's act and stop dumping waste in Landfill sites. Rather than follow the lead of countries such as Germany and recycle, New Labour has opted to build 140 polluting incinerators and to contract them out to private firms. HLC, a Portuguese company have won a 27 year contract to burn the waste from 3 South Wales towns; planning permission was granted before anyone realised what was going to be built and to spite the fact that the Environment Agency has yet to grant an operations license construction is well advanced. HLC would not be allowed to build the Swansea incinerator in their home country, yet in the UK they are going ahead less than 200 meters from the nearest houses. |
In the event the turnout exceeded expectations, with about 200 people joining a noisy march through the City Centre. We gathered at the Community Resource Centre on the High Street. Soon the Centre was full and the pavement blocked with protestors preparing to move off. There was considerable public interest and in the event most of the fliers printed to hand out along the route had been taken before we set off. 
The route took as along the length of the Kingsway and along St Helens Rd to the Environment Agency. Police had to close all the roads on the route due to the number of protestors and there could be few in the City who were not aware of the march!
The day concluded with speeches from the steps of the Environment Agency, who are the subject of deep mistrust from Swansea residents. The Agency has said it will make the long delayed decision on the IPPC license on Thursday 28th March, protestors plan to return on the day to await any announcement.
Links
To get involved in the anti-Incinerator campaign, please visit STIC's website at:
http://www.stic.org.uk/
Swan Net Pages
- July 1001 protest at the environment agency
- September 2nd 2001 Blockade of the building site
- September 9th 2001 Blockade of the Incinerator building site
Jules
e-mail:
julesw@madasafish.com
Homepage:
http://www.geocities.com/swan_net/index.html
