The countryside will not be livable in if we are not serious about waste now, Mr Riobaird O Ceallaigh, Limerick county manager, said at the Hunt Museum, Limerick, yesterday.
He was announcing a draft waste management plan prepared for Limerick, Clare and Kerry, which will be on display in the region for the next three months. When all comments have been considered and changes incorporated, it will go before the elected members of the local authorities for adoption.
The aim, Mr O Ceallaigh said, was to "set very ambitious targets for raising recycling levels dramatically and for reducing the amount of waste going to landfill from over 90 per cent to less than 14 per cent".
This would depend on reaching recycling rates of 41 per cent and thermally treating up to 46 per cent of the region's waste, generating heat or electricity for local industries in the process. This was why the thermal centre would be close to Limerick. The Limerick, Clare and Kerry draft plan looks for almost £300 million to be spent on new technologies over 15 years. "Spreading the problem over three counties means that everyone gets to share the gain as well as the pain, and no one county will have to take responsibility for the new facilities," Mr O Ceallaigh added.
Mr Brendan Keating, Limerick city manager, said the plan was in line with EU and Irish Government policy for managing waste better in the future. It meant diverting half of all household waste from landfill within 15 years, with at least 65 per cent less biodegradable waste going to landfill.
He said at least half of all construction and demolition waste would have to be recycled within five years, progressing to 85 per cent within 15 years.