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Waste operator slams council over glass bottle proposals

Thursday, 10 July 2008

A PRIVATE waste operator has criticised Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council for considering a proposal which could see the discontinuation of the roadside collection of glass bottles in the area.
The proposals are part of new draft bye-laws which are to go before councillors for approval later this year.
Private waste companies in the area already collect all plastic items and glass bottles from the kerbside for recycling.
However, the council wants residents to bring the bottles to bottle banks themselves, as happens in areas under the control of other local authorities.
Dublin City Council, which is the regulator for the Dublin region, says glass collected directly from households in their green recycling bin cannot be properly and safely separated.
The reasoning behind the proposals is that once different colour glasses are smashed together, there are serious difficulties separating them.
However, John Dunne, managing director of waste firm Panda which operates in the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown area, described the council’s proposals as “environmentally unfriendly”.
“Under the legislation, which the council is to vote on shortly, the convenient and environmentally friendly practice of placing glass and plastics, including wrappers, cartons and containers, in the green bin will be banned,” he said.
“Dún Laoghaire Rathdown residents will instead be forced to send all plastics except plastic bottles to their black bin for landfill and will have to make unnecessary car journeys to bottle banks with waste glass – a process not just inconvenient but environmentally questionable.
“Our customers are shocked and horrified that their green and sound recycling habits could be made illegal by the council.
“It makes no sense – either from an environmental point of view or from a public service standpoint.”
A spokesperson for the council’s environment department said the current debate about glass and plastic recycling is centred on “establishing best practice”.
“The proposed bye-laws, which have yet to be agreed, are about setting proper standards for the management of waste materials, including glass and WEEE [Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment].
“Glass recycling facilities prefer clean colour segregated glass and can only accept limited amounts of lower grade materials in their processes.
''When the final report is presented to council later this year, the elected members will be examining the various options available, with a view to attaining a balance between the convenience of residents and optimal standards of recycling.”

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