Pay-by-weight a success, says council

ALTHOUGH not strictly a budgetary issue, local authorities are expected to embrace the concept of pay-by-weight refuse charges in the near future.

The system was piloted in West Cork and, according to Cork County Council, it is already a success.

“We started the pay-by-weight system last January and the average weight of waste has dropped by 35%,” a council spokesman said.

“The response has been excellent. The average household generated one tonne of waste a year. That is now down to three quarters of a tonne. This has the added benefit of extending our recycling facilities.”

The north Cork towns of Mallow and Fermoy will be next to introduce the pay-by-weight system and many parts of the country are set to follow suit.

However, many environmentally conscious people lament the fact that recycling facilities, particularly in rural Ireland, are often crude and scarce.

Tony Lowes, who lives near Allihies on the Beara peninsula, often finds his attempts at managing his household waste frustrated by the paucity of a coordinated service.

“They have to make it easier for people. I have to take my bin three quarters of a mile every Monday morning and that means using a trailer because it will not fit in the boot of the car. Mr Lowes says he is happy to separate the waste but finds that using one recycling centre is often not enough.

“It is very awkward. While there is a bottle bank in Allihies, I have to take tins and cans to a bank in Castletownbere.

“There should be one place to take everything.”

When he was doing a clean-out of his house he had to travel to Kenmare, Co Kerry, to dispose of the rubbish.

“There doesn’t seem to be any system in operation. From what I can see, there seems to be only a series of ad hoc arrangements. The individual can only do so much. I believe that if people thought there was a good and meaningful system in operation they would co-operate with it.”