City should adopt the county’s waste system
In our household we reuse, reduce and recycle as much as is currently possible in Cork. We have a composting bin; we use the dry recyclable system (for which I congratulate the council) and we take any other recyclables (glass, polystyrene, household appliances, etc) to the bring site at Wilton shopping centre or to the civic amenity at Kinsale Road.
This means that at the end of the week we generally only have a small bag for the standard refuse collection. Therefore it would take us three to four weeks to fill the smallest bin on offer with the ‘tag a bin’ system (ie, 140 litres). As we recycle the rest, our rubbish mainly consists of meat, fish, leftover food and sanitary waste.
To keep it in the house for that length of time would produce a bad smell and would be a health hazard, as well as attracting pests and vermin.
The city council should implement a real ‘polluter pays’ system, like the ‘pay per weight’ system used by Cork County Council. If not, they should consider introducing a smaller bin (eg, 50 litres), with a tag cost of €1 or €1.50.
If the city council expects us to keep our non-recycable perishable rubbish in our houses for several weeks, they should provide all households in the city with suitable storage facilities to reduce the health hazard.
Nicolas Cordero
142 Deerpark
Friars Walk
Cork
