Previous Actions and Updates

Please take a few minutes TODAY to help allies in Kyrgyzstan. Flying in the face of national laws and public outrage, the Kyrgyz government is about to conclude a secret contract with an Italian weapons manufacturer to build a large municipal waste incinerator. Our allies want us to flood the government with faxes from around the world to show that there is international opposition to this project. Please send your faxes in as soon as possible!

Your letter can be in any language; English and Russian will be most likely to be read, but other languages will show the international importance of this issue.

Please fax your letters to:

Toraga A. E. Erkebaev, A.A. Borubaev and B.D. Zholchiev
Government of Kyrgyzstan
fax # (9963312) 223931 or (996312) 273893.

Also, please fax or email me a copy so we can keep track of how many people responded. ntangri@essential.org or +1-202-234-5176

Here are the salient points on the incinerator:

• the incinerator is being built by ITI, an Italian company with little experience in the field
• the contract was negotiated in secret, and the terms are not being made public
• no environmental impact assessment was done, in violation of Kyrgyz law
• the incinerator will cost US$100 million, an unsustainable debt for a poor country like Kyrgyzstan
• the company will have the freedom to charge any amount likes for garbage collection, but the city will bear all the risks of economic failure
• the company has not conducted any substantive public hearings
• non-combustion alternatives were not considered - the company has requested financing from MIGA, an arm of the World Bank

For more information on this incinerator, see the article at: http://www.ecostan.org/Ecostan/en704e.pdf

Here is a sample letter. Please modify it as you like and send it to the fax numbers above.

{your organization's name, address}
{today's date}


Toraga A. E. Erkebaev, A.A. Borubaev and B.D. Zholchiev
Government of Kyrgyzstan
Bishkek
Kyrgyzstan

Dear Sirs:

We are writing to you to strongly protest the proposed incinerator for Bishkek's municipal waste.

An incinerator is a matter not only of local or national concern, but of global concern. Incinerators are the primary source of dioxins and furans, pollutants which recognize no border and have devastating effects on human and animal health. These are two of the 12 chemicals slated for phase-out under the recently-signed Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Under this treaty, nations are obliged to reduce total releases of dioxins and furans with the aim of elimination. Constructing a new source of POPs thus is a direct affront to international law.

We are also troubled to learn that the project has circumvented Kyrgyz laws requiring proper environmental assessment and public consultation. Transparency is the best guarantor of a healthy environment; and it is the right of citizens everywhere. [Transparency is the best guarantor of a healthy environment; it is also the citizens' right, as recognized by the Rotterdam Convention on prior informed consent, which Kyrgyzstan has ratified.] We urge the Government of Kyrgyzstan to make public all documents on this project.

Finally, we respectfully suggest that there are better alternatives to the problem of waste than incineration. From Canada to Egypt, cities are implementing waste reduction and recycling programs that are cheaper, less polluting and provide more jobs than any incinerator. For more information on incineration or the alternatives, please contact the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives at:

GAIA Secretariat
Unit 320, Eagle Court Condominium
26 Matalino Street,
Barangay Central
Quezon City
Philippines
E-Mail: gaia.sec@surfshop.net.ph
Telefax: +632 - 436 4733
Telephone: +632 - 929 0376

Sincerely yours,
{your name}