Construction of one of the largest superdumps in the country gets under way in Cork today. It is expected to be operating fully by March 2006.
The €56 million superdump at Bottlehill, near Mallow, will be designed to receive separated waste from Cork city and county after it has been sorted at a materials recovery facility.
Local environmental groups battled for five years against Cork County Council's proposed landfill on a 250-acre site at Bottlehill, some 15 miles north of the city. However, last June the EPA granted the council a licence, following an earlier decision by An Bord Pleanála to grant planning permission for the project.
At least four campaigners from Bottlehill Environmental Alliance are expected to be on the board of a special liaison group which will monitor the development step by step.
The council has set aside €150,000 for an environmental monitoring committee. It has also agreed to the provision of a third-party specialist to advise the committee in its early stages.
Consultants hired to select a site for the superdump said their decision to nominate Bottlehill woods was for cost and environmental and technical reasons.
Under the EPA licence the council will be able to dispose of up to 5.3 million tonnes of waste at the landfill over 20 years.
The EPA has issued a number of conditions with the licence. The council is to set up a major recycling centre for the city and county in the village of Carrigtwohill, which it plans to have up and running to coincide with the opening of the landfill. Only residual waste will be buried at the landfill, including baled waste, thereby reducing the volume of traffic associated with such a facility.
The EPA will also require all waste to be pre-treated. On-site leachate treatment will minimise the risk of spillage to local rivers, and it is intended to extend ground water monitoring to private wells in the area.