Dublin local authorities will set up two major composting facilities to cater for the introduction of a region-wide brown bin service for biodegradable waste.
This will bring to three the number of wheelie bins allocated to households in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, South Dublin, Fingal and the City council areas.
The regional waste management plan indicates that the brown bins will cater for garden and food waste, including cooked food scraps. Some 350,000 households in the region are to get bins which will convey the waste to either Ballyogan in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, or Kilshane Cross in Fingal.
A pilot programme is already under way in Skerries and Rush, Fingal County Council, serving just over of 3,000 households, and will soon extend to 10,000 households. At present, waste from the pilot project is being taken outside the region to a private facility. The opening of the new plants is an integral part of the Dublin Waste Management Plan, according to Mary Pyne, director of environmental services for South Dublin County Council.
At a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on the Environment yesterday Ms Pyne said the introduction of the bins would involve a major communications drive and information would have to be explained "on an almost household to household basis".
As well as constituting a third of most wheelie bin content and so at least a third of landfill, biodegradable waste severely damages landfills. It rots causing a leachate build-up as well as releasing large amounts of gas. Ms Pyne also said the cost of providing the green bin service to the four local authorities was about €27 million. About €1 million was recouped from Repak while €500,000 was raised from the sale of recycled products.
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