Limerick council opposes waste plans

Limerick County Council has joined local residents in opposing contentious plans by a private waste company to more than quadruple the size of its licensed waste operation at Grange, Co Limerick.

If Mr Binman Ltd succeeds in having a recently granted draft licence upheld by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), its Grange operation will become the second-largest waste facility in the mid-west.

Currently, the largest waste facility in the region is located at Limerick County Council's Gortnadromma landfill, which has a licence to accept 130,000 tonnes of waste per annum, while Clare County Council's recently opened landfill at Inagh has a licence to accept 62,500 tonnes per annum.

Following a draft licence issued by the EPA, it is proposed that Mr Binman will be able to accept 105,000 tonnes per annum of waste at its civic waste facility at Grange, 10 miles from Limerick city.

Mr Binman is the largest private waste contractor in the mid-west with more than 40,000 customers and it looks set to increase that figure by 25 per cent if Limerick's council abandons its refuse service next Monday.

However, in response to the EPA issuing the draft licence, Limerick council's director of the environment, Mr Paul Crowe, has formerly objected, stating that the licence is in contravention of the Regional Waste Management Plan, agreed by Kerry, Clare and Limerick county councils.

With the Mr Binman facility being located in a rural area and off a county road, Mr Crowe said the EPA's "proposed decision" has not had regard to location and siting criteria specified in the waste plan.

Mr Crowe said the licence may undermine the viability of two council waste facilities proposed for Kilmallock and Limerick city.

The intervention by the council supports long-standing opposition by the Ballybricken Environmental Group to the Mr Binman facility, which currently has a licence to accept 23,000 tonnes per annum.

According to group chairman Mr Charlie O'Neill in an objection to the EPA, "the use of the facility dealing with such quantities of waste is environmentally unsustainable".

Citing the regional waste plan, which states such facilities should be located within or as near as possible to urban areas or industrial zones, Mr O'Neill said: "We cannot see how the EPA can ignore the requirements, criteria and objectives contained in the regional waste plan."

A spokesman for Mr Binman said yesterday it was not overly concerned with the objection lodged by the council.

A final decision by the EPA is not expected until next year.