Dump aftercare means big waste bills

The cost of monitoring and aftercare on the landfill site at Silliott Hill outside Kilcullen is one of the reasons why waste charge bills coming soon to local householders in Kilcullen and other parts of Kildare will be shockingly high.

That's the view of Kildare independent councillor Catherine Murphy, who says the €1.5 million per annum cost at Silliott Hill is levied on Kildare householders in the form of extra waste charges.

The 2005 standard bin charge in Kildare will be €185. On top of that, each bin lift will cost €7. A household putting out one bin per week will pay €549, or €10.55 per week, an increase of 45 percent on the €378 charged for a 240 litre bin in 2004.

As bills have not been sent out yet, many householders are not aware of how their waste bills are going to soar.

The then Environment Minister Martin Cullen gave local authorities just 10 months to introduce the system when he announced in March 2004 the move to pay by weight charging by January 2005.

According to Cllr Murphy — who is an independent candidate in the coming Kildare North by-election — the rushed introduction of the system is already undermining the intent of the system to encourage householders to reduce, reuse and recycle waste, and will cause hardship to low income householders.

She also says that increased sales of steel bins with funnel tops are strong evidence that the practice of burning rubbish has re-emerged, with obvious consequences for air quality.

Cllr Murphy is calling on Minister Dick Roche to urgently review the consequences of the new system and assess the ability of the various local authorities to respond to it.

— Brian Byrne.

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