The Tynes Bay Waste Treatment Facility, commonly known as the Incinerator, may need major renovations, Finance Minister Eugene Cox warned during last Friday's Budget speech.

Included in the Budget were initiatives to offset growing maintenance cost of the $60-million facility which came into operation in 1994, by introducing charges for commercial operators who dump waste there.

Mr. Cox's said in his budget speech: "Government proposes to introduce a refuse disposal charge of $35 per metric tonne for commercial waste delivered to the Tynes Bay Waste Facility.'' About $1.5 million was expected to be raised from the fees, but Mr. Cox warned: "In the near future, it will be necessary to start building a fund to replace the incinerator -- whose remaining useful life is fairly short.'' Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott said yesterday: "The Tynes Bay Facility has been in operation for six to seven years, and there has been steady growth in the amount of trash that has been processed.'' Mr. Scott said that due to the increased demand, it would be prudent for his Ministry to look at the overall capacity and continued increase in waste that needed to be processed, as well as the wear and tear of the facility, and assess the future direction of waste disposal on the Island.

He also said he would discuss plans for the facility during today's Parliamentary session, and reveal more at next week's session.

Mr. Scott said 67,000 metric tonnes of waste were processed at the plant in 2000 compared to 65,000 in 1999.

And he said that the amount processed went up on average 2,000 metric tonnes each year, and that from October 1994 to October 1995, the facility processed 53,417 tonnes of refuse.

Mr. Scott did not wish to reveal too many details before he addressed Parliament, but when asked if lack of recycling on the Island may have contributed to the increased strain on the incinerator, he said: "that would be a fair question.'' Shadow Works and Engineering Minister CV Jim Woolridge said his first indication of the need to replace the incinerator was when he read about it in the budget statement.

Mr. Woolridge said that when the former Government installed the incinerator, it was expected to last a long time.

And he commended Government for their intention to possibly start a fund to replace the facility, saying: "If they are now going to put money aside for the replacement of the facility, it is a prudent move.'' And he said one could not envisage going back to the old waste disposal methods of filling in Pembroke marsh.

Not only was the facility convenient, said Mr. Woolridge, but it also provided a very clean way in which to dispose of trash with little emissions, and the ash was going to the airport for land reclamation which he said was an added bonus.

The incinerator was constructed by Von Roll Group, a German engineering company based in Zurich which has built more than 500 municipal and industrial refuse combustion plants, sewage and sludge treatment facilities worldwide.

A new incinerator was built in 1999 at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to handle bio-medical waste from the hospital and Island veterinarians.