€46m Bottlehill superdump to remain closed

A DECISION to open a €46 million superdump has been deferred indefinitely because a local authority cannot afford to operate it unless there are changes in government waste policy.

The bad news for taxpayers is that while the site 22.5km north of Cork City remains idle, Cork County Council will have to make €3.5m annual repayments for a bank loan taken out to build the facility. In addition, maintenance and mandatory monitoring of the Bottlehill site will cost a further €170,000 per year.

County manager Martin Riordan said opening the landfill would only be viable if the council could be assured of taking in 150,000 tonnes of waste annually.

The council started building the site 10 years ago. However, the EPA has since licensed 19 million tonnes of capacity nationally. Private waste contractors are exporting most of the waste generated in the Cork region to other landfills.

Mr Riordan said that unless Government changed legislation to ensure waste generated in a region was disposed of in the same region, it would not be viable to open Bottlehill.