BREAKING : Meath to take in 80,000 tonnes of waste in just six weeks

A massive 80,000 tonnes of additional waste will be accepted at the Knockharley Landfill site near Kentstown over the next six weeks, following the closure of the Drehid landfill in County Kildare.

The 80,000 tonnes to be dumped at the Meath site is almost equivalent to the yearly tonnage allowed to be accepted at the landfill facility under its current planning permission.

The news had been met with anger by residents in the area. 'The whole situation is making a mockery of the planning process,' said local resident Fergal O'Byrne.

'The residents of the area feel disenfranchised as we have no option but to accept it.'

He expressed concern at possible odours and the additional traffic that will be generated in the area.

The Chief Executive of Meath Council Council, Jackie Maguire, invoked emergency powers this week to allow for the acceptance of the extra tonnage. 

This followed a report circulated by the three Regional Waste Management Plan Offices to all local authorities regarding the urgent situation where waste operators had no outlets for disposal of waste in the period up to the 31st December 2016.   
 
The report highlighted the fact this national shortfall is primarily due to the recent closure  of the largest landfill in the country at Drehid in County Kildare because the yearly  EPA Licence capacity for the facility had been substantially reached. 
 
Over the course of the last week there have been extensive discussions between the various regulatory authorities in seeking solutions to address the difficulties and to avoid the very real prospect of commercial and household waste being left uncollected at the kerbside leading to unsanitary, conditions, pollution and public health threats.  
Local Authorities in particular were requested as a matter of some urgency, to explore the potential for existing waste management capacity within their administrative areas and it soon became apparent that Knockharley in Meath and Ballynagran in Wicklow are the only two active landfills where such capacity exists and which would be capable of taking in the suggested shortfall of up on 120,000 tonnes before year end.  
To prevent or limit potential environmental pollution caused by this impending emergency of uncollected waste, both Meath and Wicklow County Council were requested to invoke Section 56 of the Waste Management Act 1996 in order to activate the available landfill capacity in Knockharley and Ballynagran.  
The chief executive said that in light of the emergency situation, she had  acceded to requests to utilise this statutory power and to allow for an intake of up on 80,000 tonnes of waste into the Knockharley Landfill.  The larger volumes of waste to be diverted to the Knockharley Landfill are due to the immediate availability of an unused lined cell whereas a partially filled cell is only available in Ballynagran during the specified period.
 
The Knockharley Landfill has a Licensed Capacity of 175,000 tonnes for disposal annually but subject to a maximum of 88,000 tonnes under Planning Conditions .
 
The Drehid landfill will be in a position to resume accepting waste from the 1st January 2017 and with a licensed capacity of 360,000 tonnes for the full year. This together with the coming on stream of the Poolbeg Facility in Dublin in mid 2017 and the Galway Landfill being operational for a full year,  should ensure the availability of adequate capacity nationally to deal with municipal residual and related waste  going forward.