- Waste
- Posted
Local councils are warned to clean up their recycling act
JUST
one in 20 households in Carlow and Mayo are recycling their rubbish, as
new figures show a massive disparity in recycling rates across the
country.
Despite numerous public information campaigns, a new report shows
that some local authorities need to dramatically improve recycling
services to ensure we reduce our dependency on landfill.
The league table of local authorities published today compares the
performances of every council across 42 separate – including waste
recycling, fire brigade response times, planning enforcement, litter
and housing.
It shows that while recycling rates are rising, some authorities need to dramatically improve services.
It also shows that planning enforcement and prosecutions for pollution and litter offences need to be ramped up.
Legal action was taken in less than one in six cases involving
serious pollution last year, with just over 500 successful prosecutions
for littering. Environment Minister John Gormley said planning
authorities need to “intensify their efforts” and “take their
responsibilities seriously.”
“Progress made by local authorities in recent years is evident by
the information contained within the Service Indicator report,
nonetheless local authorities must strive to do better to improve
services to the public,” he said.
“There is a wide variation in recycling performance for household waste,” he added, calling for “improved performance”.
“I am also particularly keen that all planning authorities intensify their efforts in the area of planning enforcement.
I am determined that all local authorities take their responsibilities seriously in this regard.”
The report also shows an increased number of complaints to local
authorities about pollution and planning, but low rates of enforcement
for breaches of planning permission.
There has been a slight reduction overall in the time taken to
re-let council housing, with some authorities re-letting houses in four
weeks but some taking up to 20.
The report also indicated a increase in litter fines and less litter in towns.
On the quality of public drinking water, it finds that local
authorities were 96pc compliant with statutory requirements, but
concerns have been raised for private schemes, with Waterford County
Council revealing that one in five were not compliant.
The average time to mobilise a fire brigade is 1.6 minutes – but
Galway County Council took 3.2 minutes – with most fires attended
within 20 minutes. Dublin City manager John Tierney, speaking on behalf
of the County and City Managers Association (CCMA), said “good
progress” was being made but improvements were needed.
“The report demonstrates very good progress is being made under a
number of headings and as would be expected highlights some areas,
which require further attention.”
A report from the country’s local authorities shows that as much
as 93pc of household waste in some counties goes to landfill – but that
Galway, Longford and Waterford councils ensure that over 40pc of
rubbish is recycled.
(c) Irish Independent
Related items
- Saint Gobain launches online technical academy
- Bord Gáis calls it quits on home insulation business
- Two thirds of new Irish homes fail energy efficiency rules
- Brian Motherway named new chief executive of SEAI
- Government launches public consultation on building control
- Fuel poverty finally taken seriously - Energy Action