Plans for new waste plant on illegal dump site

The new owner of the site of the largest illegal dump ever uncovered in Ireland has sought a licence to build a major waste processing…

The new owner of the site of the largest illegal dump ever uncovered in Ireland has sought a licence to build a major waste processing facility there.

Last month the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received an application for a waste facility at the disused quarry at Whitestown, near Baltinglass in Co Wicklow

In 2001, Wicklow County Council and gardaí from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (NBCI) began investigating the site.

Last January seven people were charged in relation to illegal dumping at the site.

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The plan involves a 30 million facility being built on the site to deal initially with over 200,000 tonnes of commercial and household rubbish buried there.

The council has been told that the facility would effectively "clean" the waste buried there, removing the organic waste for composting. It is expected the residual waste would then be landfilled on the site.

The plant would then be used to take in commercial waste for similar treatment.

Last year the site, O'Reilly's quarry, was bought from Mr John O'Reilly by Brownfield Restoration (Ireland) Ltd, a firm set up last September.

According to documents lodged with the Companies Registration Office, it is owned by a Dublin-based businessman, Mr Ray Stokes.

Mr Stokes told The Irish Times yesterday that the application was made to the EPA in March, but the plans for the facility were "not set in stone".

The type of facility envisaged at Whitestown has been operating successfully "through the rest of Europe", he said.

The proposal is facing strong opposition from locals, who are opposed to any waste development on the site, and want the waste removed from the quarry.

Whitestown is one of six major illegal dumps in Co Wicklow, and one of five which have been investigated by gardaí.

An investigation has been completed in relation to a site near Blessington owned by Cement Roadstone Holdings, which has been sent to the DPP.

Investigations are nearly complete in relation to two other sites, Coolnamadra and Stevenson's Quarry, while a fifth investigation begun last year in relation to a site at Killegar, near Enniskerry.