Murals have been appearing on walls around Splott as part of Extinction Rebellion’s protest against a second commercial waste incinerator
Extinction Rebellion is painting murals around Splott in protest of plans to build a commercial waste incinerator on Newlands Road.
The murals, which can be found on Pearl Street, depict people protesting for their right to clean air, something which Extinction Rebellion believes will be compromised for residents of Splott if the incinerator is built.
The incinerator, which is being commissioned by Mor Hafren Bio Power, would be the second in the area and just three miles away from the first.
Furthermore, the plant would be in operation 24/7 with waste deliveries being made from Monday to Saturday, resulting in around 116 vehicle movements in and out of the plant each day.
Extinction Rebellion said it was concerned this would contribute to greater air pollution and have adverse effects on the health of people who live nearby.
A social justice issue
A spokesperson for the Cardiff group, who wishes to remain anonymous, said they were also protesting the location of the incinerator and argued this was not just a climate and ecological issue but a social justice one as well.
“You wouldn’t see an incinerator being built in an affluent area of Cardiff,” they said, “but here we have people who are perhaps at a lower socio-economic level being disproportionately affected by air pollution.”
Mor Hafren Bio Power said it had carried out all the relevant assessments to ensure the incinerator would have a minimal impact on residents and in their Health Impact Assessment report they concluded there was no significant health risk associated with potential exposure to emissions of pollutants.
A dumping ground
Despite this, Extinction Rebellion urged the company to consider the concerns of the people who feel their community is being treated as a dumping ground.
“If the residents of the area care deeply about something, it should be listened to,” they said.
Residents against the CF3 incinerator
Extinction Rebellion is not the only group protesting the new incinerator; people who live in the area have set up their own Facebook group called Residents against the CF3 incinerator to help start a campaign against the plans. People in the community have been using the Facebook group to spread information on how to formally oppose the plans and have even started a petition to introduce a moratorium on the approval of any new large scale waste incinerators in Wales, and it is now being considered by the petitions committee.