Mayo County Council have announced details of rationalisation plans which aim to bring down the cost of operating their two landfill sites.
One elected representative felt there was a hidden agenda behind the new operating procedures which will come into effect next month, and proposed that the full council get the opportunity to discuss the changes.
That was former Cathaoirleach Councillor Seamus Weir, but he was assured at an environmental policy and emergency services SPC on Tuesday by the director of services Seamus Granahan that there was no hidden agenda.
Currently the council operate two landfills and two civic amenity centres at Derrinumera and Rathroen as well as 95 bottle banks. However, there are proposals for further civic amenity sites in Belmullet and east Mayo as well as ten further bottle banks.
It costs Mayo County Council €375,000 to keep each of the tip head and landfills open and they have announced plans to rationalise the operation which will save €350,000 per year.
From mid-November all contractors will be diverted from Derrinumera to Rathroen, which is expected to reach full capacity by July 2009. When this cell is full private contractors will then be diverted back to Derrinumera which has a two- to three-year capacity. While Derrinumera is accepting the waste a new cell will be constructed at Rathroen and will be open by July 2011, by which time Derrinumera’s current capacity will have expired. Rathroen will continue to accept waste until 2016 by which time it too will have reached full capacity. These proposals will reduce costs significantly, according to Mr Granahan, who stressed that the council are not closing either landfill and that the civic amenity sites at both centres will remain open to the public.
Further savings will be made in September 2009 when the brown bin is introduced for organic waste, which will significantly reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
Cllr Weir, however, was sceptical about the whole plan. First he raised the issue of bottle banks where, he said, people were dumping “nasty stuff” and he added that he wouldn’t want one in his area unless practices were put in place to deal with illegal dumping. Second, he pointed out that if contractors have to bring waste from Westport and Newport, for example, to the landfill at Rathroen near Ballina this would create more costs and he wondered was there a hidden agenda given a recent An Bord Pleanála ruling which turned down a sludge hub and leachate facility at Derrinumera landfill site.
In answer to the first point Mr Granahan said CCTV had been introduced at some bottle banks to catch the perpetrators of illegal dumping, a practice which had resulted in some prosecutions. Second, he assured the committee there was no hidden agenda.
Committee chairperson Margaret Adams was concerned that the public would incur higher costs from the private operators as a result of the rationalisation. Mr Granahan assured her that consultation had taken place and would continue to take place with the operators. However, the prices they charge were a business decision, he pointed out.
