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The controversial Poolbeg incinerator has taken its first delivery of waste

The facility will fire up this weekend.

Dublin Views The new incinerator and the iconic Poolbeg chimneys photographed from St Vincent's Hospital. Sam Boal Sam Boal

Updated at 1.40pm 

THE CONTROVERSIAL POOLBEG incinerator will fire up in the coming days – two decades after the project was first proposed.

Managing director of Covanta Ireland John Daly confirmed in an interview with Morning Ireland that the Dublin 4 plant was taking its first delivery of waste.

It would be what’s generally referred to as “black bag waste,” he said – waste that’s not going for recycling. The actual incineration process won’t start for a few days – probably at the weekend, he said.

Only one of the two boilers at the state-of-the-art plant is operational at the moment, he said. The facility would be operating at only a fraction of its full capacity, Daly explained. Full production will be reached by around September, it’s planned.

Photos taken at the plant today showed trucks delivering the first batches of rubbish to the facility.

pool1 Photos of the first delivery of waste were taken today. Conor McCabe Photography Ltd Conor McCabe Photography Ltd

Local opposition

The plant – which will process waste from the four Dublin local authorities – was initially proposed in 1997.

After years of hold-ups construction of the the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project finally began in late 2014.

Dublin City Councillors had voted against the project just weeks earlier – but Dublin City Chief Executive Owen Keegan insisted the facility was needed and made commercial sense.

Many locals in the nearby areas of Ringsend, Irishtown and Sandymount still have concerns about it, however – regarding emissions and traffic in particular.

pool2 John Daly, Managing Director of Covanta Energy Ireland Limited, at the plant today. Conor McCabe Photography Ltd Conor McCabe Photography Ltd

120 trucks per day will drive to and from the plant over a six day week, according to Covanta. Deliveries – even ones from the south – will be via the M50 and the Port Tunnel, the company insists, although waste from the immediate local area will be brought straight to the facility.

Strict limits have been set for emissions at the plant, and in an update on Poolbeg issued in recent weeks the Environmental Protection Agency said its inspectors had been visiting the site regularly in the last few months.

Covanta Ireland has said data on emissions and furnace temperature will be displayed on the company’s website and updated every half hour.

TheJournal.ie / YouTube

‘Hot commissioning’ has been taking place at the plant in recent weeks – resulting in an occasional steam plume above the incinerator. The process involves the drying out of bricks in the boilers and cleaning out of the boiler pipes.

According to a statement on the Covanta website:

The hot commissioning of the plant is ongoing with the steam blows almost 80% completed. Over the coming days trucks will be seen delivering waste to the plant to enable commissioning of the weighbridge and bunker cranes.
It is expected that the first fire of waste will occur within seven working days of first waste acceptance. Dublin Waste to Energy will send out a further information bulletin closer to this time.

Read: Man snorkels headfirst into crocodile, escapes with only minor injuries >

Read: There’s some wintry weather on the way this week >

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    Mute Jimmy Chickens
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    May 15th 2022, 7:49 AM

    Shocking. Guns shouldn’t be so freely available.

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    Mute Nora McElhinney
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    May 15th 2022, 9:25 AM

    @Jimmy Chickens: will they ever learn????? Just gather around the campfire, light a few candles, sing a few verses of kumbya and wait for the next armed lunatic….. so sad RIP

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    Mute Leadóg
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    May 15th 2022, 8:04 AM

    Nothing changed after Sandy Hook. I don’t wish harm on anyone but maybe it’s going to take the death of a top NRA person or an NRA supporting politician in a mass shooting for things to change.

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    Mute Ciaran
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    May 15th 2022, 11:37 AM

    @Leadóg: true but they all carry guns with them so it’s unlikely they themselves would be a victim.

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    Mute JPM
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    May 15th 2022, 2:49 PM

    @Leadóg: exactly. When nothing happened after Sandy Hook it’ll never happen

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    Mute Colm Coughlan
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    May 15th 2022, 7:58 AM

    It’s all okay though, President Biden is praying for the victims and their families.

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    Mute Jason Ebbs
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    May 15th 2022, 8:01 AM

    @Colm Coughlan: not just Biden, that’s all any of them did.

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    Mute pkunzip doom2.zip
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    May 15th 2022, 8:29 AM

    @Colm Coughlan: and his wife

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    Mute Michael Byrne
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    May 15th 2022, 9:42 AM

    @Colm Coughlan: Just like Trump did for the countless number of mass shootings that happened whilst he was in office. It’s quite clear the problem lies in the easy access to guns and the fear mongering and hate news that’s spread by OAN and Fox News…..

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    May 15th 2022, 10:39 AM

    @Colm Coughlan: you do realise trump was far worse….even though he has recently repeated he is the best thing ever for Christianty. Biden may be sincere, but trump is always ever only playing his twisted little game.

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    Mute Tricia G ☘️
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    May 15th 2022, 11:38 AM

    @Colm Coughlan: At least when Biden says he’s praying for them you’d actually believe he is…..

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    May 15th 2022, 2:22 PM

    @David Bohane: fun fact: you’re not a criminal until your convicted so the number of criminals who’s bail they paid would actually be a small minority, so that’s two things you’re blowing out of proportion. Also, bail is not a crime.
    The system of policing in the states is diabolical and has over inflated budgets. The idea of defend the police wasn’t that there shouldn’t be police. That’s strike three

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    Mute David
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    May 15th 2022, 2:58 PM

    @David Bohane: if the far left didn’t vote for Biden do you think they would of voted for Trump instead lol

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    May 15th 2022, 3:06 PM

    @Dave O’Keeffe: strange for the democrats to be bailing people out of jail no? Do the republicans engage in such practices as well?

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    Mute James Lough
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    May 15th 2022, 7:45 AM

    RIP. Senseless waste of life

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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    May 15th 2022, 8:39 AM

    What a còward. Put the gun to his own neck but didn’t pull the trigger, yet he had no problem shooting thirteen innocent people. His parents have questions to answer for bringing this piece of ßhit into the world.

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    Mute lelookcoco
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    May 15th 2022, 8:52 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: His parents? Are you actually serious? So this guy is innocent because his parents are to blame? Engage your brain before making a comment.

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    Mute Jason Ebbs
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    May 15th 2022, 8:57 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: He’s 18, so an adult. This makes him responsible for his own actions and not his parents.

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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    May 15th 2022, 9:09 AM

    @lelookcoco: I didn’t say he was innocent. But he has all the signs of a spoilt brat. We need to find out why these kids are doing this by examining their upbringing and their home life. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Which means his parents are probably white supremacists also.

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    Mute Teresa O'Halloran
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    May 15th 2022, 9:13 AM

    @Jason Ebbs: what about the case of Ethan Crumbley, do you think his parents didn’t know what he was planning?

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    Mute Jason Ebbs
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    May 15th 2022, 9:34 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: Difference circumstances. He was 15 at the time of his shooting, so a child.

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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    May 15th 2022, 11:42 AM

    @Teresa O’Halloran: Do you know everything your children are doing?

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    Mute Dave
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    May 15th 2022, 11:24 AM

    Horrific stuff, after seeing the footage.. When you can just roll up with an automatic weapon like that without a second thought, there is something seriously wrong with the American society and the obsession with guns…

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    Mute Lynne Colson
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    May 15th 2022, 9:28 AM

    Unfortunately the U.S. constitution would need to be so changed from “The right to bear arms” for any of this to stop or lessen even. Because the American “forefathers” wouldn’t have been able to have the foresight this far in to the future. A U.S. president is unable to simply change the constitution and the gun lobby is large and vocal. Republicans would never allow this change to the constitution.

    Contrary to popular belief there are a lot of people in the U.S. have no interest in guns.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    May 15th 2022, 10:43 AM

    @Lynne Colson: true! Even if they could change everything just to exclude automatic and assault rifles and all those other mad guns they have over there.

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    May 15th 2022, 3:08 PM

    @Paul Furey: I think there is an automatic weapons ban but it needs to be strengthened.

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    Mute Bramley Hawthorne
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    May 15th 2022, 8:13 AM

    A gun-totting society is a contradiction.

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    Mute E.J. Murray
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    May 15th 2022, 12:23 PM

    He probably thinks that he’s going to be found innocent like Rittenhouse. The US continues to destroy itself, and all that it’s supposed to stand for.

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    Mute Jonhayes38
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    May 15th 2022, 9:17 AM

    Thoughts & prayers…

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    Mute Seán Ó Briain
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    May 15th 2022, 2:50 PM

    Another MAGA loon.

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    May 15th 2022, 3:10 PM

    @Seán Ó Briain: no just a loon.

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    Mute Jimmy Reid
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    May 15th 2022, 7:54 AM

    What’s NY policy on the d penalty. You’d want this boyo to go for this. Crazy

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    Mute A$AP Ragnick
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    May 15th 2022, 9:10 AM

    @Jimmy Reid: dont think new york have it. Could be wrong though.

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    Mute Peter Sutton Fitzgibbon
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    May 15th 2022, 11:26 AM

    …and two were white before surrendering… ?

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