copies Ontario's incinerator ban.

That was the grim warning yesterday of Independent MP and environmentalist Mr.

Stuart Hayward.

Mr. Hayward urged Ministers to draw back from sacrificing Bermuda on the altar of politics.

He said worldwide there was a shift away from mass burn incinerators.

"Our Government is going to have to swallow its pride,'' he said.

"Unless it changes course it could be disastrous in economic and human terms.

Incinerators cannot be made safe.'' The Ontario Government has banned new municipal incinerators because of fears of air pollution and risk to human health.

It dubbed incineration as a "technological quick-fix which creates new environmental problems without solving old ones.'' The ban has predictably fuelled controversy over the proposed $64 million Tynes Bay incinerator.

Last week Environment Minister the Hon. Ann Cartwright DeCouto immediately played down the ban's importance.

She spoke of probable differences in Toronto and Bermuda's waste product, plant technologies and size.

"I suspect their plants were set up long ago and that their technologies are not top-of-the line.'' She also said Government planned to remove toxic elements from the waste stream, and would install monitoring bodies.

But yesterday Mr. Hayward attempted to shoot down her arguments.

"It would appear she can't have studied the Ontario Government's decision because her remarks don't relate to it.

"The Canadian ban is on new incinerators -- not old ones, as she states. She has given an unreasoned response.'' Mr. Hayward said Government's own document this year -- a "comprehensive waste management plan for Bermuda'' -- stated Bermuda's waste would be comparable to that of other industrialised nations.

"The Minister contradicts the report by saying our waste is different. Even the Government's technical officers understand the similarity,'' he added.

Mr. Hayward said he believed Bermuda's garbage could be even more toxic -- because of plans to burn tyres and waste oil, both potentially hazardous.

In the United States, for instance, there were separate facilities for burning waste oil.

Mr. Hayward also poured scorn on Government's proposed monitoring bodies.

"It would be Caesar monitoring Caesar, or Government monitoring Government,'' he said.

"I don't recall any case where Government has taken Government forcefully to task.'' Mr. Hayward went on to pick holes in Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto's assertion Government had thought through the issue carefully.

In its submission to the Development Applications Board in 1988, Government claimed Bermuda produced 45,000 tons of waste a year.

Yet in 1992, Government's figure had soared to 80,000 tons a year, said Mr.

Hayward.

"If Bermuda is almost doubling its waste production every four years then the incinerator is going to be obsolete before it's built.

"I rather think there was a miscalculation in 1988 and that the 1992 figure is true.'' Mr. Hayward continued by accusing Government of flouting a key condition of the DAB's final approval in June, 1990.

This stipulated Government must publish within two years a study and inventory of potentially hazardous waste products to be used in the incinerator.

"It has quite blatantly violated this condition. Nothing has been published,'' said Mr. Hayward.

He added he believed it symptomatic of a lack of "vigilance'' and "dedication''.

"This is such a serious issue. We are talking about the health of Bermuda's environment,'' he said.

Mr. Stuart Hayward MP.