Greens welcome progress on recycling but Ireland still bottom of European League
The Green Party has welcomed the publication by the Environmental Protection Agency of National Waste Report 2004. Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca said “we need more options than bury it or burn waste. We need to focus on two areas; reduction in the levels of waste we produce and development of an Irish recycling sector”.
“Three-quarters of Irish material for recycling is being exported, and it doesn’t make sense to send all this material on a ’slow boat to China. The Government should be encouraging recycling here at home by providing more grant-aid for start-up recycling companies”.
“Ireland is producing more general waste and packaging waste per head than any other country in Europe. We’re at the bottom of league and the Government must do more to reduce the amount of waste produced in the first instance. In addition, the most recent comparative figures show that our overall recycling levels were second worst in the EU”.
The Green Party councillor believes that the powers to tackle waste generation already exist in the Waste Management Act (1996), which allow for the ‘prohibiting, or limiting or controlling’ of specified containers or other packaging. “New initiatives under the act to combat waste generation are overdue and critically important if we are to deal with the current waste crisis” says de Burca.
“The queues of cars waiting to get into civic recycling centres at weekends all over the country show that the Irish public is willing to play its part. What is now needed is the development of a strong and indigenous recycling infrastructure and government initiatives aimed at reducing the level of waste we produce” she says.
De Burca points out that the Green Party councillors on Bray Town Council were instrumental in securing planning permission for a new recycling centre for Bray. “There is no excuse for Wicklow County Council not to have this recycling centre, which is off the Boghall Rd, open in the very near future as funding is also available for its operation” she says. “It could have been open for Christmas and any further delay in making the service available to the people of Bray will raise very serious questions”.
