Cork County Council could cut aid to firms over plastics usage

Cork County Council is to examine barring start-up businesses from securing grant-aid unless they take measures to reduce the use of plastics in the workforce.

The local authority wants plastic bottles and other plastic drinking vessels to be cut out due to the increasing threat of plastic to the environmental.

Proposed measures will be discussed by the council’s environment special purposes committee (ESPC), which had been the first in the country to formulate bylaw bans on smoky coal.

ESPC chairman Cllr Kevin Murphy said he and his colleagues would seriously view a number of measures to prevent the build-up of plastic waste on roadsides, in rivers, and the oceans.

Cllr Christopher O’Sullivan, who raised the issue, called for a ban on the use of single-use plastics within shops and supermarkets, and for a ban on cosmetic and hygiene products that use micro-plastics which are harmful to marine wildlife.

He said single-use wrapping plastic, which is not recyclable, is ending up in our rivers, streams and causing serious damage to marine life which is ultimately consumed by humans.

“The EU wants to get rid of it by 2030, but that’s 12 years away. We are the worst offenders in Europe, producing over 60kg per person per year. I’d love to say our county could be the first to do it,” he said.

Cllr Mary Hegarty suggested the council introduce water fountains where people could refill bottles rather than repeatedly buying plastic ones, while Cllr Danny Collins said a deposit/refund should be placed on returned plastic bottles.

Meanwhile, Cllr Marcia D’Alton, an environmental engineer, said the council should only award contracts to firms that did not use plastic.

Cllr Gillian Coughlan, meanwhile, suggested no start-up companies using plastic should receive grant-aid from the council’s Economic Development Fund.

Louis Duffy, head of the council’s environment directorate, said it would support local initiatives that seek to reduce single-use plastics.