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[Press Release: February 1st, 2005] Greens call for significant improvements to existing County Waste Management PlanFollowing a recent meeting of the Environmental Strategic Policy Committee of Wicklow County Council at which consultants presented proposals for the Review of the County Waste Management Plan, Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca called for a range of new waste- management measures to be introduced in the county."It is essential that any review of the County Waste Management Plan makes the delivery of recycling centres for Bray and Greystones a top priority" says de Burca. "These large urban centres have been told over a number of years now that they will be getting a recycling centre, and yet little obvious progress has been made to date. The introduction of the new Pay- Per- Use system for waste collection now means that householders must be able to access local recycling facilities so that they can cut down on the amount of waste they have to leave out for collection. The people of Wicklow Town and Arklow have state- of -the -art recycling centres available to them, while the 40,000 or so people who live between Bray and Greystones do not. This is no longer tolerable in 2005". The Green councillor also pointed out that the doorstep recycling service being rolled out by Greenstar in Bray is not yet available to all of the estates in the town. "Furthermore, the charge for the collection of a recycling bag for householders has recently increased from 2 euros per bag to 3.50 euros" she says. "This is almost a 100% increase and this cost compares negatively with the free service being provided by the council's recycling centres in Arklow and Wicklow town". Councillor de Burca has also called for a big increase in composting facilities, and commercial and demolition waste recycling facilties in the county. "There are only two commercial and demolition waste recycling facilities in the county" says de Burca. "This means that, for example, Wicklow County Council cannot put conditions in the planning permissions they grant, requiring developers to recycle C&D waste where demolition of buildings occurs". The Green councillor has also pointed out that the lack of central composting facilities in the county means that it will not be possible in the forseeable future to require Greenstar and other waste collection companies to provide a Brown Bin service for the collection of organic waste". The Green Party councillor also called for a fundamental review of the way in which the Pay- Per- Use system appears to be operating in Wicklow at present. "Essentially householders are being asked to pay the full cost up front of waste collection charges for the year" she says. "They are then told that the amount of waste they are leaving out every week will be monitored and that they may get a rebate towards the end of the year. This is an unacceptable situation as far as consumer rights are concerned. Consumers are entitled to know in advance what cost is attached to any service they receive. I wonder what the Director for Consumer Affairs would have to say about this situation"?
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