Dublin city centre will be "practically a no-go area" if food waste is allowed to go uncollected outside pubs, hotels and restaurants later this month, the employers' group IBEC has warned.
IBEC's Dublin members have been told that commercial food waste will not be collected for the second half of August, because of Fingal County Council's decision to impose quotas on the disposal of such refuse at Balleally dump in north Dublin.
The organisation has urged the Minister for the Environment to avert "the impending waste crisis". A meeting yesterday between representatives of the department, the local authority and IBEC ended without a compromise. Further talks are planned.
Last month the county council said it was imposing a 50 per cent reduction in the disposal of waste from private contractors, plus a 45 per cent rise in charges. The authority said it had no alternative, because at current rates the landfill site would be full by next February.
IBEC has called for the lifting of the quotas until alter natives are found, otherwise rotting food would accumulate on the streets. "As this is normally the warmest period of the summer, it is more than likely the city centre will become practically a no-go area, not only to the residents of Dublin but to several thousand tourists as well."