Burying recycling 'waste mountain" in Meath not on: Cllr

Any suggestion that a 'waste mountain' of surplus recyclable material could be stored at the Knockharley landfill near Kentstown will be 'fiercely resisted', a Navan councillor said this week. Fianna Fail Cllr Tommy Reilly said he had heard suggestions about the possibility that hundreds of tonnes of unwanted recycling waste could be located in Meath. 'I want to hit this on the head before the idea takes off,' he said as he called on Green Party members in Meath to impress on Environment Minister John Gormley that the county should not become 'a dumping ground'. Falling demand for old newspapers, plastic goods, cardboard and cans means that waste companies are left with growing mountains of material on their hands without any possibility of selling them on. The sale of new electrical goods, cars and property, which acts as a spur to the recycling industry, has plummeted since last autumn. This 'waste mountain' has been growing by more than 10,000 tonnes a week, according to Government figures, and recycling firms are trying to cope with storage costs estimated at up to €15 million a week. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has drawn up a list of potential emergency storage locations. The Government is fighting the battle on two fronts, by seeking out possible storage sites but also in persuading industry and the consumer to work towards reducing recycling. One of the possible storage sites is at Tara Mines and the Irish Gypsum plant at Kingscourt, but Cllr Reilly said he believes that the Knockharley site is also being considered. The EPA is reported to have told the Government that it is open to allowing the storage of some types of recycled goods, like metal cans and plastics, in unused portions of landfills. 'The recyclables would be isolated from other wastes so as to ensure contaminant-free status and therefore re-export ability,' it said. The storage of recycled waste in this fashion is forbidden under current regulations but the EPA says that the Government could amend the licences of the facilities involved. Cllr Reilly described the EPA suggestion as 'disastrous'. He said: 'We value our tourism in Meath very highly. We know there is a problem building up in relation to recyclable material but the message should go out that storing it in Knockharley or Tara Mines is not the solution. Certainly, the people at Knockharley have put up with enough - too much, some people would say. They are already fighting a battle on the odour front so why should they be asked to take this recyclable material?' Cllr Reilly added: 'I am calling on the Green Party activists in Meath to impress on their minister that Meath doesn"t become a dumping ground. When the members of Navan Town Council called on the EPA to come to Navan to discuss the odour problem at Knockharley, we were told that they wouldn"t be coming and that if we wanted to see them, we would have to drop into their office in Dublin. 'Imagine that kind of response came from a State agency which is funded by the taxpayer? They should be told by the minister to get off their backsides and come down here to grassroots level to explain exactly what they are doing about the smell out there.'