Swansea Friends of the Earth today condemned the announcement by the Environment Agency that it will be issuing a permit to let dumping restart in Cwmrhydyceirw Quarry. The controversial tip has been closed for some years but now Italian based Company SI Green may get a licence to tip on the site.
The quarry tip first became an issue in the 1980s when industrial and domestic waste tipped on the site created a sickening tom cat smell and a plague of flies which annoyed residents throughout Morriston. The tipping licence was withdrawn and now it is to get a permit to reopen.
Swansea FoE Chairman, Roy Jones said.” They are going to move and expose to the air thousands of tons of toxic waste in order to build a complicated new liner up the sides of the quarry. Then more waste is going to come in. This is going to be an extremely difficult task for the Environment Agency to monitor.”
The wastes in the quarry include dangerously toxic PCBs and Dioxins some of which came from a factory in Switzerland and it is planned to fill the quarry with more waste over a period of six and a half years. Mr. Jones added” The Cardiff office of the Environment Agency is deciding the permit application. Previously this was done locally by people more familiar with our local situation and experiences”.
The licence is expected to be issued on 23rd July. This will be followed by a period of 28 days when the public will have the opportunity to comment. “ This will not give people very long to comment particularly as it is rather conveniently during the holiday season,” said Mr. Jones.