An "environmental catastrophe" has been averted following a cross-Border agreement on glass recycling, according to the Rehab Recycling Project.Since the closure of the Ardagh plant in Ringsend, this State no longer has the capacity to reprocess its own waste glass.
However, the Fermanagh-based Quinn Glass has now agreed to reprocess over 200,000 tonnes of waste glass in the next three years.
Mr Bob Rowat, general manager of Rehab Recycling Partnership, said the State had been heading for an environmental catastrophe due to the lack of viable markets for our waste glass.
"We do not generate enough waste glass here to justify the construction of a new glass manufacturing facility at an estimated cost of €150 million, and the cost of shipping our glass overseas is prohibitive," he said.
The agreement between Rehab Recycling and Quinn Glass covers almost all consumer glass deposits in this State. It was reached with the help of the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, and Repak, the Irish packaging compliance scheme.
The deal will secure 105 jobs at Rehab Recycling until the end of 2006. More than half of these jobs are staffed by people with disabilities.
Between now and 2006, at least 635 million bottles and jars will be transported from 1,600 bring-bank sites around the State to the Quinn plant.
Without the agreement, the waste glass was destined to be dumped in landfill sites. The State would also have faced fines from the EU for failing to meet recycling targets.
"On top of that, there is the irreparable damage that would be done to Ireland's green image abroad and the economic consequences for our tourism industry in that event," Mr Rowat said.
He has called on the Government to provide funding for research into alternative uses for waste glass "to ensure that we can continue to recycle the bigger and bigger volumes that improved infrastructure and greater public awareness will bring".
He said he expected the agreement would lead to at least a threefold increase in glass recycling volumes over a four-year period.
Mr Seán Quinn, managing director of the Quinn Group, said the arrangement was "most opportune" and would encourage the continued expansion in recycling.
