Works Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira said yesterday.

And despite overseas concerns about the impact of incineration on the environment and health, the Minister said Government was committed to operating an incinerator as safe and clean as possible.

Dr. Terceira also dismissed claims Government was endangering the Island's future.

"Why would Government or civil servants do anything they felt wasn't the best for Bermuda,'' he said.

"I've got grandchildren in this community as well, some not far from Tynes Bay. I'm not going to take a chance with my own grandchildren. I feel absolutely safe with the incinerator being where it is, in Bermuda.'' Dr. Terceira's comments followed the Ontario Government's decision last month to ban new municipal garbage incinerators.

Environment Minister the Hon. Ruth Grier said the ban was enacted because: incinerator air emissions are a "threat to both human and environmental health,'' and; incinerators create large quantities of solid waste much of which is contaminated.

Dr. Terceira did not dispute either assessment but said Government was completely aware of the dangers and was taking steps to minimise possible impact.

He said it was important to keep the incinerator project in perspective.

Bermuda, unlike Ontario, does not have "the luxury of hundreds of thousands of square miles to bury our waste in landfills.

"There is no alternative in landfill unless you want to fill in Paget Marsh and Devonshire Marsh. I'm not for that. That would be a real horror show for Bermuda.'' Other alternatives to incineration included ocean dumping or shipping waste overseas.

The Minister noted that Bermuda was not an industrial society like Ontario.

The local operation, he said, was not truly comparable to its plants.

He also dismissed the Ontario Government's ban as political overkill, noting that it was allowing the six existing plants to remain in operation.

Dr. Terceira said effective management of the Tynes Bay plant and help from all Bermudians made incineration the least risky course.

Of the 80,000 metric tons of garbage Bermuda produces annually, 45,000 tons or 53 percent, is to be burned at the Tynes Bay plant. The rest -- automobiles, batteries, fluorescent lights, aluminium cans, hazardous paints and waste oil -- is to be shipped off the Island for recycling or dumping.

"We're going to make sure that harmful materials are kept out of the waste stream going into the incinerator,'' he said.

Dr. Terceira added that Bermudians recycling their waste goods and cooperating with Government programmes was key to a successful operation. Getting publishers and paint companies to switch to less harmful materials in their ink and paints was one example of how to reduce toxicity of the materials burned.

The Minister said the Government had put a lot of thought into the plant operation and tested key aspects of its operations in overseas laboratories.

"It's not perfect, but it's a whole lot better than what we're doing now,'' he said. "Hopefully, in 30 to 40 years people will be coming up with improvements in it.

"We're not preoccupied with making the world perfect. We're simply trying to make it a lot better.'' The Hon. Clarence Terceira.