Tonnes of Bermuda's waste will be baled and saved while one of the Tynes Bay incinerator streams is refurbished this year.

Minister of Works and Engineering Derrick Burgess said the decision to close one of the two streams was made because a third stream could not be built due to Government's lack of money.

Citing economic woes for the lack of funding for a third stream, Mr. Burgess said the Ministry had no choice but to ensure the proper working of the other two by renovating one.

He said: "The two existing incineration streams at Tynes Bay are now 16 years old and major parts of the plant are at the end of their useful life, resulting in frequent failures and shutdowns.

"With the deferment of funding for the third stream expansion, it is imperative that the planned refurbishment programme for the existing facility is implemented as a matter of urgency as scheduled in the coming fiscal year.

"Failure to do so will risk a complete shutdown of the facility with severe environmental, operational and political consequences.

"When completed, this refurbishment will enable the plant to provide sufficient steam to drive a new steam turbogenerator that will double the electrical power generation from 3.6 megawatts to 7.5 megawatts."

The second stream will close for about four months in November as the furnace is reconditioned, its combustion system overhauled and major replacements to the boiler system are made.

While this happens, waste will not be incinerated in the other stream. Instead it will be shredded and compressed into bales and wrapped into several layers of plastic wrapping.

When the refurbishments are complete, the bales will be incinerated over a six-month period.

Work for a third incinerator will not begin until after contracts are awarded in April 2011.

Government announced the development of a third output centre for Tynes Bay in 2007. The 2009-10 Budget pledged funding for the project's preliminary stages. The idea was that a third stream would offer flexibility should the other two need repairs.

The plan was for the tendering of the project and/or construction to begin this fiscal year.

The facility annually disposes an average of $70,000 tonnes of garbage each year.

According to Mr. Burgess the plant had received 33,260.8 tonnes of solid waste by last September, and is on target to receive 65,000 tonnes of solid waste for the fiscal year.

The Minister added: "This is a marked decrease in waste generation from previous years and is believed to be attributed to the down turn in the economy.

"There are not many places where we can store this waste."

Shadow Minister of Works and Engineering Pat Gordon-Pamplin, however, urged the Government to take actions that would be best for the Country.

She said: "The waste has to be baled and stored somewhere. We could do it easier by asking people not to generate garbage as much as before.

"I am suggesting this as a recommendation. In real time we have to be real. It's one thing to be political but we have to look at what's right for the right reason.

"There's no way you are going to be able to bale that amount of refuse."