Tag Archives: waste

News

Council Hears Of Dumping Of Domestic Waste In Town Centre Bins

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Mayor Terry O’Brien.

THE Mayor of Tralee said some people are coming into the town centre to dump their domestic waste in council bins.

Labour Cllr Terry O’Brien was moving a motion at the online meeting of Tralee Municipal District on Monday, that Kerry County Council would examine the potential of supplying more bins for the town centre and our amenities, but close to a CCTV system to try and eliminate people bringing their domestic waste to the Council bins.

Mayor O’Brien said a friend of his, who was staying in town for work purposes, observed a person stopping their car and putting their bags of waste into bins outside his hotel bedroom window early in the morning. The Mayor said his friend was shocked at what he was seeing.

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In reply to the motion, the Council said it is not their intention to provide additional bins at present.

They said Tralee MD has increased its schedule for the emptying of many bins that are located on the periphery of the town and this has proven to be effective in reducing the level of overfill of bins and littering generally along these amenities.

They said this measure will be held in review and balanced with the demand at these amenities and elsewhere in the town.

Tralee MD said businesses also have a role to play, particularly in the provision of private bins where they sell food.  They said many food outlets now offer a take away service only, however, it is imperative that they still provide a bin that is accessible to their customers.

News

Simple Tips For Recycling Over Christmas

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WASTE and where to put it might not seem top of your priorities at the moment, but it is a problem with all the wrapping and rubbish accumulated over Christmas.

Well Kerry County Council have issued a quick guide of what goes where that might help over Christmas.

Kerry County Council’s Environmental Awareness Officer, Oonagh O’Connor, says our recycled waste ends up in China and companies there are becoming increasingly strict about accepting contaminated refuse.

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A new campaign has been launched to encourage householders to recycle in a proper manner. The new national recycling list can help make things simpler and remember if in doubt throw it out.

Here are some tips for managing the usual Christmas time suspects;

• Wrapping Paper — Recycling Bin with Sellotape removed

• Christmas Cards — Recycling Bin

• Tin Foil & Foil Trays — Recycling Bin but must be clean

• Crisp Bags — Waste Bin

• Sweet Wrappers — ​Waste Bin

• Plastic film/Cling Film — Waste Bin

This video might also help…

Check out www.recyclinglistireland.ie for all information regarding new national recycling list which was agreed by Irish Waste Contractors to remove confusion about what materials are accepted in the recycling bin.

For community groups interested in finding out more about our new national recycling list you might like to invite a Recycling Ambassador to give a free and practical demonstration to your group.  To organise your Recycling Ambassador visit log on to www.voiceireland.org/rap.

News

Sinn Féin Organises Protest Over Waste Collection System

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Protesters outside county buildings on Wednesday. Photo by Dermot Crean

A SHORT protest was held outside Kerry County Council buildings at lunchtime on Wednesday, against a new system of bin charges which will come into effect from this September.

This new system will ban flat charges and move towards a pay-by-weight and pay-by-lift system across the whole country.

The pay by weight system has already introduced in Tralee where customers also pay a monthly standing charge.

The protest was organised by Kerry Sinn Féin and Cllr Pa Daly said the current system in Tralee and around the county is not working for the people.

“Six years ago there was a vote in Tralee Town Council to get out of the waste collection service in the town,” he said. “The two Sinn Féin representatives and one other councillor voted against, but the majority of councillors voted to get out of the service.

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“That decision has proved to be a disaster. The evidence is that the bin charges have been increasing since the new system has been brought in. The reality is there are pensioners and single people who aren’t going to pay a fixed charge per month for a small amount of waste,” he said.

“Kerry County Council sold the waste collection service to KWD and they will not disclose how much that was worth to the local authority. It included the fleets and the routes and the only concession we got was that the waivers [for pensioners] would stay and price would not increase for one year,” he said.

“Our fears at the time have come to pass. While the councillors had control over public collection we could ensure it would be affordable. Since privatisation, we’ve seen numerous social media campaigns by citizens saying they can’t afford the charging structure being imposed on them, we have an increase in fly-tipping and everything we have predicted has come to pass.”

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Cllr Toireasa Ferris said she would like to see the Council supplying the service again, but said it would be difficult.

“Once a service is privatised it is very difficult under EU law to bring back a public service, but we don’t believe it’s impossible. We would like to see a day when Kerry County Council get back into the waste collection service. The costs that were constantly being flagged as being a loss to the local authority, as a result of being engaged in the service, have continued as we still have to maintain the landfill. Those costs were the reason given by Council management for getting out of the service,” she said.