Green Party makes submission to Review of Wicklow Waste Management Plan

According to Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, the Green Party believes that the current waste situation in Wicklow requires a comprehensive and effective response by Wicklow County Council, as a matter of urgency."The Green Party deplores the near monopoly situation that has arisen in the county in relation to waste collection services" she says. "We call on Wicklow County Council to fulfil its legal responsibility to act as a regulatory body in relation to waste, and to ensure the introduction of competition into waste collection and recycling services. Furthermore, the County Council should consider whether the same company should be providing the waste collection and doorstep recycling services. It would appear that those providing mixed waste collection services may have little incentive to ensure the availability of comprehensive doorstep recycling services".

The Green Party's submission points out that the lack of a doorstep recycling service and any municipal recycling centres in both Bray and Greystones, with a combined population of approximately 45,000 people between them, is a scandal. "The private waste operator Greenstar has failed to 'roll out' doorstep recycling services to these large urban centres and Wicklow County Council has failed to condition their waste collection permit to oblige them to do so" says de Burca. "The council must be more proactive in identifying suitable sites for municipal recycling centres in these areas. The sites could be rented, leased or even compulsorily purchased".

The Green councillor believes that Wicklow County Council also needs to review the current operation of mobile recycling collection services in the county, particularly in Bray and Greystones. She claims that the delivery of these services appears to be "dictated by the priorities of the private contractor rather than the needs of the public". She argues that the lorries used for the mobile collection service often are filled to capacity early on during the fortnightly collection times, and that the private contractor appears to claim that extra lorry capacity is not available. "Furthermore, where spillages occur at bring banks, the private contractor has refused to clean up the mess and leaves the task instead to local authority staff" she says. "The Green Party believes that the local authority should be dictating the terms of the contract, in the public interest, rather than allowing the contractor to deliver the service according to its own interests and priorities".

In its submission the Green Party has also called on Wicklow County Council to develop a clear and coherent policy in relation to illegal dumping in the county. In particular the Green Party has argued that where those responsible for illegal dumping are identified, legal prosecutions should be pursued through the courts rather than the local authority entering into private agreements with landowners as is currently the case."We believe that illegal dumps should not be legalised in the county" says de Burca. "This sets a dangerous precedent and essentially means that the location of future official landfills in the county will be determined by the location of sites of illegal and criminal activity".

The Green Party has also stated that the existing Wicklow Waste Management Plan does not contain adequate measures to deal with the objective of reducing and recycling Construction and Demolition waste, which the EPA has identified as the third largest waste stream in this county. The party's submission has also called for the removal of all references to thermal treatment or incineration from the current and any future Wicklow Waste Management Plans.

For further information please contact:
Deirdre de Burca on 086-806 1450; email: deburca@wicklowgreens.org