Sir, - Brian Lube (January 25th) applauded the erection of hundreds of blue protest flags in Meath and Kildare. One can readily understand the level of protest about proposed incinerators or landfill facilities in Ireland. None of us wants an incinerator or a landfill facility located anywhere close to our home or place of work. We must try to preserve and enhance our "green" environment.
However, many of the thousands of protesters leave out bins or bags of refuse every week to be disposed of "elsewhere". A protest sign or flag on a property from which waste is regularly produced? It's a contradiction! The solution to the waste problem starts at home, or in one's own workplace.
It would be interesting to learn what practical steps the protest groups in Meath and Kildare have initiated to reduce or eliminate the waste emanating from the households and businesses in the areas from which they draw their support.
Some solutions to waste reduction could be implemented relatively quickly, but each of us has to act positively.
Protesting about waste problems is easy. Defining and implementing solutions to those problems is much more difficult, particularly when it requires each of us to change the careless habits of a lifetime. - Yours, etc.,
Philip Meyer, RecycleNet, Clane, Co Kildare.