There will be a national gathering at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 1st October at 1pm to protest at the spread of municipal waste incineration and other methods of burning waste such as gasification. The gathering will enter the Parliament at 2.30 as guests of Robin Harper, and a delegation will meet with Environment Minister Richard Lochhead to discuss our proposals and concerns. For those who would like to attend the meeting with MSPs, which will start at 2.30.p.m., please get in touch with Michael Gallagher, who is making the arrangements for the demo and meeting:-
Please phone/fax Mike on 01828 627124
Or email: mpgallagher@btconnect.com  

The event is timed to coincide with the Global Action Day against incineration.

To mark the occasion, acclaimed Invergordon musician Ro Goodwin will give a live performance of his debut single "It Was Madness (To Burn Our Waste)' (click here to listen to a snippet).

Protestors are concerned about the emission of toxins and greenhouse gases. Peter Jones (Boris Johnson’s waste advisor) has estimated that incineration produces up to 2 tonnes of Co2 per tonne of waste. SEPA reports that the ‘state of the art’ incinerator at Baldovie in Dundee emitted 100 times the safe limit of deadly dioxins and furans last year (click here for SEPA's summary of Baldovie emission breaches since 2006).

There are currently three municipal waste incinerators in Scotland:

Dundee – 120,000 tonnes per annum (tpa)
Shetland – 23,000 tpa
Dumfries – 60,000 tpa (newly built, undergoing trials)

Four more having planning permission:

Irvine (gasification) – 80,000 tpa
Greengairs – 300,000 tpa
Glenfarg – 60,000 tpa
Elgin – 30,000 tpa

A further six are proposed:

Millerhill, near Edinburgh – 200,000 tpa
Invergordon – 130,000 tpa (refused planning permission on 18.8.09)
Peterhead – 100,000 tpa
Dunbar – 300,000 tpa (refused planning permission on 1.9.09)
Nigg – outline proposals in Nigg Yard Development Master Plan
Perth – 90,000 tpa

PETITION
Please would you sign this petition? The text of the petition is:-
`We the undersigned demand that the Scottish Government outlaws incineration, gasification and pyrolysis of all waste, on the grounds that these `technologies` are demonstrably unsafe for human health and the environment, and instead invests in the necessary infrastructure to make it easy and practical for people and businesses to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste, 
while simultaneously seeking international agreements to ensure that products that are manufactured both here and abroad are designed to enable this to happen. `
Go to:-
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Ban_The_Burn_In_Scotland/ 
You can also access the petition via the website:-
http://www.snbad.info/petition.htm 

NEW SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT WASTE STRATEGY, STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT 
(SEA) ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT, UK PACKAGING STRATEGY
You may wish to make a submission to the Scottish Government's 
Waste Strategy. The Waste Strategy gives an opportunity to challenge the 
established way of dealing with waste. Go to:-
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/waste-and-pollution/Waste-1/wastestrategy 
`As well as comments on the draft Plan, the Scottish Government would welcome 
your comments on the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): Environmental 
Report which we are also publishing today. We would also welcome your 
comments on the UK Packaging Strategy.`