Sir, - Most environmental issues are eminently soluble by shrewd management and the current domestic waste problem in Ireland is certainly no exception.
Anyone today can go out and buy waste in the form of packaging, surplus food or clothing, durable goods, etc., and when no longer in need of it, can simply leave it out for the good old bin men to remove - no questions asked!
There is absolutely no waste impact awareness created at the point of purchase and here lies the problem. If one is prepared to accept, as I do, that virtually all normal waste is reusable, albeit at some cost, then it simply should be reused. If one can also accept, as I do people will have to be forced into participating, then they should be forced.
If every newspaper, bottle, tin-can, plastic bag, cardboard box or lollipop wrapper had a waste tax imposed on it at the point of sale of, say, 10p per item and the majority of this tax was reimbursed when the item was returned to a specific point in a specific manner, I guarantee it would be returned. If it was deemed that certain waste was less easy to reuse or indeed more expensive to dispose of, then it might be taxed sufficiently higher to cover that cost. Certain waste could then be gathered in sufficient quantities to make it economically viable for reuse, while waste with no capacity for reuse would simply be made more expensive. At that point, the market would produce alternative but similar products to suit the recycling process.
The bottom line is that by creating new dumps or building incinerators without at least fully exploring the above is simply taking the easy option.
Yes, there will be groups out there totally opposed to such a system but you will find that they have something to lose in terms of money or will be simply too lazy or stubborn to change. It is up to the Department of Environment to remain aloof of such pressure groups and make hard and sensible decisions for the common good of the country and its delicate environment. - Is mise,
Niall Ringrose, Blackrock, Co Dublin.