Residents give council ultimatum on recycling

A COMMUNITY association has told Cork County Council it can no longer accept a recycling facility in its area and has given the local authority seven days to remove it.

While the people of Douglas are less than happy with the state of the facility, the people of Cobh say their only recycling centre is incapable of dealing with demand created by a local population of 12,000.

Douglas Community Association wants the council to remove a recycling centre from the community park because of what members claim is a lack of proper maintenance.

Fine Gael’s leader on Cork County Council

Cllr Peter Kelly has made several pleas to council officials in the past few weeks.

“Numerous complaints about the poor maintenance by the council of this facility have been made by the Douglas Community Association and by local residents,” Mr Kelly said. “I warned the county manager at the start of December that the situation in Douglas could not continue.”

He said the recycling centre had fallen into chaos on an almost daily basis.

“We simply don’t have enough recycling centres to make pay-by-weight a reality. We have no recycling centres in Donnybrook, Grange, Frankfield and Maryborough Hill said Mr Kelly.

He maintains the equivalent of 50 centres are needed in the greater Douglas area to make the new pay-by-weight system a success. “In the absence of a proper recycling facilities, Douglas residents will see their 2005 refuse charges increase on average by over 68% to €672, and many residents will pay over €1,000,” Mr Kelly said.

He will be seeking the suspension of standing orders at Monday’s council meeting to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, Cllr John Mulvihill is to call on the county manager to suspend the pay-by-weight system until an adequate number of recycling centres are established.

“We have a population of 12,000 on the Great Island of Cobh and around 4,000 homes. We only have one recycling centre. This is situated by the community college and has no lighting. It’s a danger to people who are slipping on litter and broken glass,” he said.

He claimed that within two hours of emptying recycling bins they are full again.

“It’s simply unacceptable to ask people to pay-by-weight when they don’t have adequate recycling facilities,” Mr Mulvihill said.