Large landfill sites needed as stringent waste regulations close small dumps

Numerous small dumps are closing as stringent new waste management regulations come into force. Dump closures combined with the new regime are piling on pressure for prompt creation of bigger, better-managed facilities on greenfield sites, or for expansion of existing large landfills.

Many communities faced with expanded or new county- or city-serving dumps planned near them refuse to accept new licensing by the EPA, the terms of the 1996 Waste Management Act and a new EU landfill directive which will herald a new environmentally sound and unobtrusive way of disposing of their waste. Under the new legislative framework, every local and regional authority is obliged to furnish a comprehensive waste-management plan, including the embracing of greater recycling.

Campaigns against new facilities, expansion of old ones or continued operation of others running close or beyond capacity have been most vociferous recently in Cos Galway, Wicklow, Limerick and Clare, three of which could be easily serviced by the Silvermines development.

Waste Management Ireland has been making a strong pitch for county and city waste from local authorities in the west, mid-west and midlands. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, has indicated he would support "regional solutions" to the current landfill crisis.

The Irish Times has established that many local authorities are waiting to see if WMI gets a licence before finalising what they will do with their waste. Limerick Corporation, in parallel with continuing plans to develop with Limerick County Council a controversial landfill at Slieve Felim, has visited the Silvermines site to examine its viability while it awaits an EPA decision on licence application for the new facility proposed in east Limerick.

If elected members continually vote down the best sites proposed by local authorities after receiving expert advice, disposal outside their area forces itself on to the agenda. Exporting Galway's waste to Northern Ireland, an option that would have been considered uneconomic in the past, was examined by the city authority after it was forced to close its facility at Carrowbrowne by High Court order in December.

Meanwhile, the fate of the WMI application to drain Ballynoe mine before developing it as a landfill is an executive matter for Tipperary North Riding County Council. The County Manager, Mr John McGinley, said, as it had yet to receive a planning application for the development, any evaluation of the environmental record of its promoters did not arise. Notwithstanding the opposition of its councillors the executive would apply "total objectivity, and consider it on its merits", he added.