Kastela residents protest harmul waste incineration

The city government officials of the southern Dalmatian town Kastel Sucurac, environmental activists and some residents have protested against the permission given to cement company Cemex to burn allegedly harmful wooden railway sleepers in their town.

Protestors claim the sleepers contain cancerogenic materials or heavy metals like lead, cadmium that could be harmful to the environment. Dalma Luketin from environmental organisation Zeleni Dalmacija (Dalmatia Greens) warned that no studies had been done on the potential effects of the incineration.

Kastela's Mayor Josko Berket said that the city government did not give the company permission, but that higher state authorities gave them a green light.

"Dangerous waste has no place in Kastela," Berket said, adding that other harmful waste had been deposited there for the past 50 years without being properly taken care of.

Protesters say the company expects to burn 60,000 wooden railway sleepers per year, with numbers increasing in the future.