Domestic waste is being dumped as landfill at Marsh Folly in a contingency measure to avoid another fire breaking out at Tynes Bay.

Government said yesterday it has to use the horticultural waste site for a month as part of its Emergency Waste Disposal Contingency Plan, following a breakdown of machinery at Tynes Bay.

Truckers started transporting household waste to Marsh Folly on August 22, after the second incineration stream broke down.

Works and Engineering Minister Derrick Burgess said yesterday it would be dumped at Marsh Folly for a further two weeks due to the "extensive repairs" needed at the incineration plant.

A quantity of steel plates need to be installed on the Electro Static Precipitators, which collect smoke and particles from combustion and keep pollutants out of the air.

Mr. Burgess said: "When the second stream was shut down for emergency repairs the degenerated state of the equipment became apparent and as such the repairs are much more extensive than originally anticipated."

Some residents, however, have questioned the safety of dumping household waste at Marsh Folly, fearing environmental pollution and another fire in Pembroke.

On February 28 last year, a build-up of horticultural waste self-combusted, producing flames more than 90ft high. It took a week for fire crews to extinguish the blaze.

Mr. Burgess said yesterday the risk of fire at Marsh Folly was "minimal" compared to one at Tynes Bay. In April, during annual maintenance works at the plant, garbage reached more than 30ft in height in the refuse bunker, causing it to overflow into the tipping hall and combust. Firefighters who spent five hours tackling the blaze said the trash probably self-ignited due to overheating in the humidity.

Explaining the need to use Marsh Folly, Mr. Burgess said: "The refuse storage bunker at the plant (Tynes Bay) had filled to capacity and to avoid a similar stockpiling of waste which occurred earlier this year and led to a fire in the tipping hall, the Ministry of Works and Engineering invoked the Emergency Waste Disposal Contingency Plan.

"The Emergency Plan includes the use of Marsh Folly as an engineered landfill site until emergency repairs, currently under way, are completed.

"I think the risk of fire would be at the Tynes Bay facility, as we had earlier this year, if you just kept piling up the waste. I think what we are doing at Marsh Folly, the risk of fire is minimal."

He said: "We bury the waste every day and cover it with mulch and clean fill every night, in order to eliminate odours."

Mr. Burgess said the Ministry had received "just one observation" or complaint about smell.

"We are just asking the public to bear with us for another two weeks," he said. "The Ministry sincerely apologises for any inconvenience that these activities may cause to the public."

The Minister said once the third incineration stream becomes operational in 2011, this should alleviate pressure on the two other streams.

"The development of a third incineration stream is well underway and will provide the necessary redundancy in plant capacity to refurbish the existing incineration streams and provide for an effective ongoing preventative maintenance programme that will guarantee sustainability for the Island's waste disposal needs," he said.

One resident questioned Government's use of Marsh Folly. Martin Brown said: "For the first time in very many years, we are tipping our untreated domestic/residential rubbish into a landfill site.

"The site appears to be shallow and hastily arranged and is located on the surface of the eastern face of the old landfill site, with all the pitfalls that entails for the adjacent Pembroke neighbourhood and Bermuda as a whole.

"No lining has been installed. As a result we stand by as, after many years, yet more pollutants and toxic materials are placed only to leech into valuable marsh land and the water table below.

"This is the same water table that supplies most of the Government's and Bermuda Waterworks water plants. Hence those supplying the City's water. Bermuda's latest environmental shambles is unfolding."

Last night, Kirk Outerbridge, Tynes Bay Waste to Energy Facility plant manager, said: "The landfilling is occurring with the full support and approval of the Environmental Board and the Department of Environmental Protection. It is an undesirable but necessary operation to avoid a potential catastrophic fire at the Tynes Bay Facility."

Commenting on the use of Marsh Folly as a landfill site prior to Tynes Bay's opening in 1994, he said: "Marsh Folly is typical of old dumps in that leachate controls such as a liner were not employed and the operation was not carried out along standards that minimised environmental impacts.

"Nevertheless, it appears that natural attenuation credited to a thick compacted base of peat has prevented any serious consequences to the surrounding ground water. In any event, the incremental impact of a few weeks of landfilling materials that have been generally cleared of toxic wastes, will not result in any significant impact over and above the potential impact of decades of dumping."