Current pressure on landfill sites in the Midwest region is expected to be greatly eased after Clare County Council yesterday opened its €7.5 million waste management facility near the village of Inagh.
Over the past 16 months, an estimated 50,000 tonnes of waste from Co Clare has been transferred to landfills in the adjoining counties of Limerick and Tipperary. Kerry County Council refused a similar application to accept waste from Clare.
This followed the closure of Clare's only landfill site at Doora in July 2001 after local residents secured a High Court settlement leaving Clare without waste disposal facilities. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that if Doora remained operational it may continue to cause environmental pollution.
As a result of Doora's closure and not having an alternative, the county council was forced to abandon its refuse service last November due to the estimated €65,000 costs per week of transferring waste out of Clare.
The search for an alternative landfill site commenced in 1997 and finally in June 2001, despite strenuous opposition from the Inagh Anti-landfill Group, the EPA granted the council an integrated waste management licence to operate the facility. The facility at Ballyduff Beg, two kilometres from Inagh, is to have the capacity to receive 62,500 tonnes of waste per annum and covers a forested area of 150 acres. Some 100 acres of this land is to be used as a buffer zone.
Chairperson of the council's special policy committee on the environment Cllr Patricia McCarthy yesterday welcomed the opening of the landfill. "It is important that it is opened on a phased basis. We cannot take any chances with the environment."
The council's director of services for the environment, Mr David Timlin, said: "We recognise the concerns of the local community in hosting this facility. To that end we have given a firm commitment to assist in protecting the environment in the area."
As part of that commitment the council has already agreed to reserve a portion of the gate fees for local environmental improvement projects.
Independent TD Mr James Breen said the local community was not happy that the landfill was established at Ballyduff Beg. "We will have to live with it and ensure that the operation of the landfill stays within EPA guidelines."
He also claimed that the N85 road servicing the landfill was incapable of dealing with the additional traffic that the new landfill would generate. "It is a tourist route and it was due to be upgraded, but that has not happened."
