Horizons

You've got six more days to check out the current exhibition on recycling at ENFO, the Environmental Information Services office at 17 St Andrew St, Dublin. Aimed principally at children but appropriate for all, the exhibition, Recycling Materials, encourages us to reuse, recycle and reduce our waste while also refusing disposable items, particularly plastic bags. It also emphasises the need for degradable paper for food products, glass bottles for milk and soft drinks, and more sustainable products across the board. One inspiring story chronicled is that of the Sunflower recycling project in Dublin's North Strand. Set up as an employment initiative, the business now collects recyclable waste from 260 businesses and 60 households. Contact Sunflower on 018787726 or sunflower@iol.ie

The exhibition continues until January 19th, opening hours 10 a.m.5 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Tel: 1890-200191. And take your old Christmas cards to deposit in their recycling bin while you are there.

Don't leave your Christmas tree to slowly decompose at the end of your garden because it will still be there next year looking brown and miserable. Instead, take it along to a Christmas tree depot, to be shredded and composted. In Dublin, trees can be deposited in the following locations: St Anne's Park, Raheny; Albert College Park, Glasnevin; Mellowes Park, Finglas; Nephin Park, Cabra; Markievicz Park, Ballyfermot; Ringsend Park; Brickfields Park, Crumlin; Bushy Park, Terenure and Herbert Park, Ballsbridge. In Cork, Christmas trees can be deposited at the Parks Depot, Togher (adjacent to Clashduv Park); Glen Amenity Park; Parks Depot, Fairhill and several greens around the city. In Galway, trees can be deposited in the following locations until Friday: Grattan Road (opposite Grattan Park); Dyke Road carpark; McGrath's field, Knocknacarra; Ballyloughane (beside Renmore beach) and Westside Community Centre carpark. In Limerick, residents can leave out their Christmas trees beside their bins on rubbish collection days (until January 22nd) and Limerick Corporation will take them to their recycling depot. Check with your local county council for recycling depots in other areas.

There is growing concern in the Midlands that some of Charleville Wood in Tullamore, Co Offaly, is threatened by the proposed by-pass. Home to some of the oldest native oak trees in Ireland, the 170hectare wood is a prime example of the oakash-hazel woodland, a now rare habitat. It lies in the path of the "emerging preferred route" for the by-pass, according to Lorraine Dufficey from the Irish Wildlife Trust.

Opponents of this route include the Irish Wildlife Trust, Badgerwatch, Birdwatch Ireland, Just Forests, An Taisce and the local residents' group, the Ballard/ St O'Hara's Hill Group. Writing in the current issue of Releafing Ireland, Dufficey contends that the site must be protected in its entirety if its ecological integrity is to be preserved. Dufficey also argues that there are alternative routes which would fulfil the town's need for a by-pass without damaging Charleville Woods.

William Wall, county engineer with Offaly County Council says that the council has taken on board all the correspondence from opposing groups. "We haven't finalised our plans yet and Duchas are thinking about extending the area of the wood which is a candidate for a Special Area for Conservation (SAC) to the whole wood. We are looking at two alternative routes and hope to have this resolved by the end of February," Wall tells Horizons. I suspect we haven't heard the end of this.

Young people interested in natural history, archaeology and decorative arts can participate in some interesting workshops at the National Museum in the forthcoming weeks. Tomorrow at 3 p.m., six-year-olds and upwards can discover how some animals hunt and how others avoid being hunted, at the Natural History Museum, Merrion St, Dublin.

On Sunday, January 21st at 3 p.m., Sarah O'Gorman will explore the collections in the musuems with eightyear-olds and upwards at the Archaeology and History Museum, Kildare St, Dublin. And then on Sunday, January 28th, at 2 p.m., six-year-olds and upwards can see the display of St Brigid's crosses, hear all about the traditions associated with St Brigid and make their own St Brigid's cross at the Decorative Arts and History Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin. Tel: 01-6777444