Councillors angry at plan to privatise recycling centres

Cork’s county manager and elected members are at odds over whether local authority-run recycling centres should be privatised.

County manager Martin Riordan said yesterday that many of the county’s 11 = Civic Amenity Centres were uneconomic and may have to be taken over by the private sector.

Some months ago, he said the council would test the waters to see if private companies would be interested in running the sites.

In a report delivered to councillors yesterday by Liam Singleton, a senior engineer in the council’s Energy and Waste Services Environment Directorate, it was revealed eight private companies had shown expressions of interest.

However, Mr Riordan was strongly advised by councillors that they did not want to see recycling service falling into private hands.

The council previously sold off its refuse waste collection service to a private contractor Country Clean.

Some councillors maintain that if the private sector takes control they will increase the charges of the current €3 admission to civic amenity sites.

They further claimed private operators would cherry-pick what consumers could use the centres and new measures could exclude waste such as grass cuttings.

Councillors warned that likely increased charges and the exclusion of some materials could lead to more illegal dumping around the county.

Mr Riordan said government grant aid for running such sites was continually diminishing and he had a responsibility to ensure the council did not over-extend itself financially.

The county manager said he was in discussions with union representatives about efficiency and cost-cutting proposals to keep the operations open.

In particular, council officials want to ensure the centres open when the public wants them, which is likely to entail further evening hours and extra weekend work for operatives.

If agreement cannot be reached, Mr Riordan said he would discuss the possibility the private sector would have its own employees to replace council staff.

Furthermore, the council is looking down the road at other possibilities which could lead to even greater privatisation of the service.

These include farming out the supply of general operatives and site managers at the centres to the private sector and even leasing the sites in total to them.

Members of the council’s Environment Special Purposes Committee vehemently oppose such moves.

They want to see small recovery industries springing up at these sites whereby people could, for example, repair thrown away bicycles and sell them on for a small profit.

Cllr Veronica Neville (FG) was particularly in favour of such a concept.

However, officials said allowing such cottage industries to spring up on the sites could have health and safety repercussions.