Archive for the 'Recycling' Category

GREENS CALL FOR PROPER CLEAN-UP AFTER FLOODS

Published
by
Cadogan Enright
on August 27, 2008
in 1. GREEN PRESS RELEASES / LATEST NEWS, Climate Change/Flooding, John Hardy, Littering/Vandalism/Crime, Newcastle, Pollution and Recycling
. 0 Comments

Photograph shows Green Party Co-ordinator John Hardy on the Newcastle shore showing the vast amount of bottles washed up after the floods.

Green Party Newcastle Co-ordinator John Hardy has called for the proper waste management of the debris washed up on Newcastle beach and in particular for all plastic bottles to be recycled.

The major floods which struck Newcastle not only devastated many homes but also showed us the extent of Climate Change as it left tonnes of branches, roots and other material pilled up on the shore.

Green Party Co-ordinator John Hardy said, “Obviously the priority must be to help those people directly affected by the flood water and to repair any damage done to peoples homes. However when the time comes to clear up the beach I would call on the Council to ensure that as much of the debris is salvaged as possible.”

John Hardy said, “Literally thousands of plastic bottles have been washed up along with the timber. These plastic bottles should be recycled and not simply sent to landfill. The timber itself could easily be turned into wood chips.”

“The recent floods are set to become more frequent as Climate Change makes our weather unpredictable. Unfortunately the sewage system in Newcastle has not been designed to deal with large amounts of storm water and so this has lead to Newcastle beach failing the European Bathing Water Directive Standards. What we have witnessed being washed up on the beach further adds to the poor condition of the shore in the Newcastle area.”

John Hardy concluded, “The vast amount of bottles indicates the disregard we have for the sea in using it as a dumping ground.”

Press Cuttings: 'Beach debris should be salvaged and recycled

ENRIGHT OPPOSES COUNCIL’S PR PROMOTION OF INCINERATION

Published
by
Cadogan Enright
on June 15, 2008
in 1. GREEN PRESS RELEASES / LATEST NEWS, Cadogan Enright, Council and Recycling
. 0 Comments

Cadogan Enright, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.

DOWN Cllr Cadogan Enright has spoken out against plans by Down District Council to employ a Public Relations company to promote the incineration of waste.

At a Recreation and Environmental Services Committee meeting on Monday (28th), a motion was presented to Council members calling on them to support a decision to award a tender to a PR company for Public Relations consultancy Services for Residual Waste Infrastructure projects.

According to the Green Party Councillor, this would essentially mean that the Council would be funding a private company to promote incineration plants against campaigns by local communities who would oppose such plans.

Cllr Enright said, “The Council’s job is to represent the community, not fund PR companies to fight local communities defending themselves against incineration. Down District Council’s waste plans, under Arc21, currently support incineration, but this is totally unacceptable and public money should not be spent in promoting this.”

“With the commercial viability of Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT) plants, these new technologies have rendered the concept for incineration under Arc21 obsolete”, he said.

Cllr Enright rejected criticism from members in the chamber who belong to other parties. “Some of SDLP colleagues have strongly criticised me for opposing incineration, but I am arguing that if a better deal is available to the taxpayers that also helps the environment- we should be using it.”

Down District Council is one of eleven Councils in Northern Ireland which form a joint waste management policy, called Arc21. The need to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill sites in order to meet EU targets has resulted in the Councils favouring incineration as a solution. This would involve thousands of tonnes of waste being burned in large incineration plants, potentially situated in Down District.

The Green Party Councillor concluded, “Incineration is not an option for waste disposal. In the Republic of Ireland, the Green Party Minister for the Environment John Gormley has drastically increased landfill and incineration charges to make them unfeasible, this will encourage waste to be treated through more cost-effective, environmentally friendly methods. The business case for incineration is no longer sound – Down District needs to move on and challenge ARC 21’s plans, and not be hiring PR consultants for them.”

Press Cuttings: Enright opposes incineration plans, Opposition to incinerator plan, Green warning over incinerators

Council seeks waste plant meeting

Published
by
Cadogan Enright
on May 2, 2008
in 6. PRESS CUTTINGS, Cadogan Enright, Council, Downpatrick, Employment/Economics, Planning issues and illegal development and Recycling
. 0 Comments

Council seeks waste plant meeting, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.

ON THE SPOT FINES DEFERRED

Published
by
Cadogan Enright
on May 2, 2008
in 1. GREEN PRESS RELEASES / LATEST NEWS, Cadogan Enright, Council, Downpatrick and Recycling
. 0 Comments

bluebin, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.

DOWN Green Party Cllr Cadogan Enright has welcomed the decision by the Down District Council to defer plans to give the council powers to issue £100 “on-the-spot” fines to those householders who don’t abide by the waste collection arrangements.

Cllr Enright said, “I welcome this decision because I would not want the enthusiasm for recycling amongst householders in Downpatrick to be discouraged in any way. If anything, the council does not provide enough opportunity to recycle enough materials through bin collection. For example, yoghurt pots, and other items with the recycling symbols on them, cannot be placed in the bins, so it would have been possible for people who are honestly trying to recycle materials to be punished. The council needs to extend the list of recyclable materials that can be placed in the blue bin.”

Cllr Enright continued, “We already have the power to refuse to lift bins that have been contaminated, and to prosecute the worst offenders – this should be sufficient – on the spot fines are a step too far”

Cllr Cadogan Enright pointed out that the council let the Inter-Church door-step and recycling scheme in Newcastle fold earlier this year, instead of expanding it to Downpatrick and elsewhere in the district. This is making it more difficult for people to recycle in the Castlewellan and Newcastle areas and means more recyclable materials will end up in landfill

Cllr Enright said, “We should have been expanding this scheme and making it more cost-efficient. Now ARC21 is studying how such a scheme can be put in place for the future across N.I. as a whole for door-step collection, but it is unlikely to be locally owned and controlled. .

Green Cllr Enright concluded, “The Council needs to be encouraging people to recycle and facilitating those who do, rather than strictly enforcing collection arrangements. The amount and types of materials which can be recycled should be increased. However, I would of course urge all householders to be vigilant in using their bins and to ensure that contamination does not occur, or that other people do not use recycling bins to dispose of rubbish.”

Press Cuttings: Greens Welcome Bin Decision, recycling in Down Recorder

NEW WASTE PROPOSALS COULD DISSUADE RECYCLING

Published
by
Cadogan Enright
on April 27, 2008
in 1. GREEN PRESS RELEASES / LATEST NEWS, Cadogan Enright, Council, Downpatrick and Recycling
. 0 Comments

Cadogan Enright, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.

DOWN Green Party Cllr Cadogan Enright has raised concerns about the latest plans to give councils the power to issue £100 to those householders who don’t abide by the waste collection arrangements.

The plans, unveiled by Environment Minister Arlene Foster last week, would involve councils issuing fines to those people who disregard the guidelines on waste collection, such as contamination of blue recycling bins.

Councils can already issue notices setting out when and how waste should be left out for collection. Offenders can be prosecuted through the courts, with a maximum fine of £1,000. However, from 7 April councils will be able to issue fixed penalty notices of £100 for low level waste receptacle offences, such as putting the wrong materials in recycling bins.

Cllr Enright said “There has been quite a lot of coverage recently of the problems councils and householders face over the contamination of blue bins. However, I do not think that the threat of a fine is helpful in encouraging people to recycle.

“The eagerness of householders to use their blue bins and recycle their waste must be welcomed and, if anything, the council does not provide the opportunity to recycle enough materials through bin collection. For example, yoghurt pots cannot be placed in the bins, so it isn’t correct that people who are honestly trying to recycle materials which should be recycled are being punished.

Furthermore, the loss of the inter-church recycling scheme in Newcastle means more recyclable materials will end up in landfill. The Council needs to be encouraging people to recycle and facilitating those who do, rather than strictly enforcing collection arrangements. The amount and types of materials which can be recycled should be increased.”

However, I would of course urge all householders to be vigilant in using their bins and to ensure that deliberate contamination does not occur, or that other people do not use recycling bins to dispose of rubbish. The fines announced by Arlene Foster are discretionary so I would urge Down District Council to only use them for serious offences. This way, the Council can continue its very useful collection service and recycling residents are not at risk of prosecution.

Press Cuttings: Enright Urges increase in recycling

Greens First Past the Post-er!

Published
by
Cadogan Enright
on February 5, 2008
in Helen Corry and Recycling
. 0 Comments

IMG_6324, originally uploaded by downgreenparty.

Green Party by-election candidate Helen Corry said she was enjoying the shock of other parties at the higher quality of Green Party posters, leaflets and other material.

“They ask me how I can do it within the confines of a £1,000 budget allowed for this election,” she said. “The answer is simple – recycling”.

Helen said that unlike other partiesthe Green Party recycled its posters, designing them to be used in more than one election. “All my posters were up around the Banbridge Council area for the MLA elections last year,” she said, “and we managed to recover most of them for this election. Thus I don’t have to buy posters and can so afford better materials in this election.”

“My election agent has even perfected a device for getting ties down from poles undamaged to allow them be used again as well. Green economics beat the disposable consumer culture every time.

“They have seen nothing yet, we have more where they came from – I hope that the demonstration of the effectiveness of recycling of posters by the Green Party will inspire the other parties to take down their posters, store them flat and recycle them in future elections; their ties too, I hate to see the way they leave them on poles after the elections.”

Mrs. Corry is asking people to vote Green with their 1st vote, and then transfer to their usual party No. 2.

“We need all the parties to understand that their voters want them to take on the Green agenda – this is a simple way to send them a message,” she said.

Press Cuttings: Helan Corry Oberver Ad

GREEN PARTY ALARMED BY ATTITUDE TO RECYCLING SCHEME

Published
by
John Hardy
on January 24, 2008
in 1. GREEN PRESS RELEASES / LATEST NEWS, Bryansford, Cadogan Enright, Castlewellan, Council, John Hardy, Newcastle and Recycling
. 0 Comments

Cadogan Enright

 

Down Green Party Councillor Cadogan Enright has expressed alarm at the ending of funding for a curb-side recycling scheme in Newcastle. This issue was first raised by Newcastle Green Party Coordinator John Hardy.

Cllr Cadogan Enright said that the three and a half thousand residents of Newcastle, Bryansford and Castlewellan who use this scheme are way ahead of the District Council on this issue.

Cllr Enright stated “We are missing an opportunity by allowing this recycling scheme to fold. Our capability for recycling in Northern Ireland has a lot of room for improvement and I am seriously worried that the Council is missing a trick here.”

He continued “I attended the Audit Committee of the Council last week and discovered that the Department of the Environment are refusing to pay Down District Council £67,000 for dumping at Drumnakelly landfill site.”

Cllr Enright pointed out that this amount was enough to keep the inter-church recycling scheme going this year.

“Failing to collect charges at Drumnakelly dump is causing cut-backs in recycling schemes. This is upside-down logic as it will only increase the amount of rubbish going to the dump by 300 tonnes per year, filling up valuable spare capacity. Ths scarce space can be sold by the council for a profit.”

The issue of funding for the scheme was raised by Cllr Enright at Council before Christmas. At a meeting of the Council last week (late January ‘07), Councillors Enright and Clarke proposed a motion to grant further funding to the group, but this was defeated by the combined SDLP, DUP and UUP votes.

“This loss of funding has resulted in job losses and is a step backwards in our waste policy in Down District. When curb-side collection becomes mandatory and recyling targets are raised from the current 38% progressivly up to 80% we will have to tender for this service and either Bryson House in Belfast or some multinational will benefit taking jobs and profits out of our area and we will lose capability for the Newcastle Inter-Church Association” Concluded Cadogan Enright.

Press Cuttings: interchurch in observer cadogan, Interchurch 4, Inter Church Recycling Scheme 2