Exporting rubbish will cost taxpayer

OUT of 34 county councils and the main city councils, six have now closed their main household refuse dumps and another 22 face closure within the next five years, unless they get licensing from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is by no means guaranteed.

Various regional waste management plans call for incineration, but no municipal incineration plant has been built. The only municipal plant that has secured planning permission is in Carranstown, Co Meath, which will be run by a private company, but even that is subject to a High Court appeal.

Cork City Council is faced with a problem as the Kinsale Road landfill site will close on the January 1, 2005 and the replacement site at Bottlehill has not been licensed by the EPA yet. The council has therefore advertised for private contractors to handle the waste for 18 months until mid-2006.