I could not believe the article regarding plans to process incinerator ash at Cairnrobin Quarry. This is very serious and I wonder what research has been done about this.
I was on the planning committee for all the 18 years I served as a city councillor from May 1999 until May 2017 when I retired. The first proposed incinerator was to be built where that large storage shed now stands above the new South Harbour but this was refused.
A few years later the application came in for the one now under construction at Tullos. When we visited the site I was horrified to see it in close proximity to Tullos Primary School and lots of houses and flats.
I and several other councillors voted against this but we were outvoted. The council arranged for an expert in incineration to come over from Norway to tell us how it is handled there, particularly the disposal of the ash.
The gentleman was very well versed on the subject and went into detail as regards how bottom ash could be mixed with plastics and used to fill potholes in the roads and this had been used in England.
Since that first planning application I had read up about incineration and near to the end of the meeting we were allowed to ask questions, but nobody asked the question about the disposal of the deadly fly ash.
I put up my hand and asked the question “How do you dispose of the fly ash in Norway?” At this the presenter appeared to get perplexed and took a minute or two to answer and I and others were shocked when he truthfully said: “We have no facility to dispose of fly ash in Norway so it is sent to a disused deep coal mine in Sweden.”
Fly ash is one of the most deadly substances on Earth and causes several types of cancer. Surely Aberdeen City Council cannot intend storing fly ash in the disused Cairnrobin Quarry!
Muriel Jaffrey, Scotstown Gardens, Bridge of Don