Keaney's comments appear to have wrong-footed the department of the environment, now led by Green Party minister John Gormley, which initially told this newspaper that its policy on incineration had not changed since the new government took office. In a later statement, the department stated that, for non-recyclable waste, "we want to broaden out our approach. . . with an increased emphasis on mechanical biological treatment [MBT], rather than having incineration alone as the cornerstone of our policy".

However, according to Keaney, who is waste management company Indaver's UK and Irish project director, the state's commitment to introduce MBT facilities and its aim to send only 10% of all Ireland's waste to landfill is particularly positive news for the incineration sector.

According to Keaney, a large proportion of the residue from MBT, which is a waste processing technique aimed at separating recyclable and reusable waste from other waste, cannot be reused or recycled and, given the state's new landfill targets, would have to be incinerated.

"Only 3% of the material passing through MBT plants is recyclable. The rest has to go to landfills or incineration, " she said. She said Indaver was confident, based on the programme for government, that it would be able to proceed with its controversial incinerators in Cork and Meath.

"The programme for government is clear: we fit into their climate change policy, their energy policy and their waste policy, " said Keaney. "Waste to energy clearly remains a part of the government's waste strategy given the commitment to existing waste strategies, the ambitious target for 10% landfill and the commitment to using waste for generating sustainable electricity."

She said she was pleased that the government had not ruled out increasing the state's landfill levy. Indaver has said it would like the government to raise the landfill levy so the operators of incinerators could compete on price with landfill operators. She said the promise not to alter the levy in a way that would "give a competitive advantage to incineration" did not concern the industry.

"That's fair enough. It's not saying that they won't put up the landfill levy and we have never sought a competitive advantage. We believe the cost of sending waste to incineration should be around the same as sending it to landfill, " she said.