The Waste Management Plan for Co Meath was described as a shambles yesterday by Cllr Brian Fitzgerald, who said that Government Ministers in the county were divided on the issue of incineration and were adding to the public's confusion.
"We have the Minister for the Environment in the county and he and the Government appear to support incineration and we have another Minister who appears to oppose it, adding to the confusion," he said, referring to Minister of State Ms Mary Wallace.
"It is time the councillors told the people of Meath that the decision on incineration was taken out of their hands," he said. "We never got a say," he added, referring to the powers given to county managers by the Minister for the Environment to adopt a Waste Management Plan if the elected members failed to do so.
The Waste Management Plan includes the option of thermal treatment or incineration, which the majority of the councillors yesterday said they continued to oppose.
During a presentation and discussion on the county waste plan, councillors were told that once its existing landfill at Basketstown closes at the end of December, the council will have to dispose of its waste in landfills in adjoining counties.
They also heard that the gas being emitted at Basketstown is sufficient to produce one megawatt of electricity or provide power for approximately 500 homes.
The gas is likely to be produced for the next 20 years.
On the issue of recycling, the council has plans in place to increase the number of civic or recycling centres but was criticised for not including ones for east Meath or Ashbourne.
The Waste Management Plan provides for kerbside collection of recyclable material but the organisation of this, as well as any additional cost, will be a matter for the private companies currently collecting refuse, the councillors were told.