This article is from page 3 of the 2006-08-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
CLARE householders using bin collections are still recycling only onefifth of their household waste, according to figures just released.
But Green Party Councillor Brian Meaney says that the “disappointing” figure does not reflect our enthusiasm for emptying the boot of the car into bring-banks.
A national report from the Local Government Management Services Board for 2005 shows that in the Clare County Council area, 20.2 per cent of the rubbish collected door-todoor was recycling.
A massive 79.8 per cent of what we put in our bins is still being sent to landfill.
This is in comparison to residents of Galway county, who recycle 30 per cent of their rubbish and residents of Limerick City, who separate just 14 per cent of theirs for recycling.
Top of the recycling league were Longford people, who see to it that more than half their rubbish – 51.28 per cent – goes the green route.
Worst in the recycling league table was the Environment Minister’s own county. Dick Roche’s native Wicklow puts just two per cent of its collected rubbish in recycling bins.
But Cllr Meaney has greater faith in Clare’s green agenda.
“That figure is disappointing but I believe it may not reflect the actual situation,” the councillor said.
“Recycling centres in Clare are constantly full.
“I think it is vital to give people access to bring-banks in as many locations as possible and to have as many banks for different kinds of materials as possible.
“When people are given the option to recycle materials free of charge, they will use it,” he added.
The figures are for door-to-door collections and do not take into account bring-banks, which account for 40 per cent of all recycling.
Other figures gleaned from the report show that Clare County Council issued 515 on-the-spot litter fines in 2005, prosecuted 29 cases for nonpayment and secured 14 successful prosecutions.
Neighbouring Limerick city issued 797 on-the-spot fines, with 263 prosecutions taken, with 66 convictions secured.
Galway County Council issued on the spot fines in relation to 335 littering instances.
Six prosecutions ensued and 33 prosecutions were secured.