East Meath needs its own waste recycling depot - Lennon
Meath County Council has been urged to provide a waste recycling depot in east Meath.
At the April meeting of the council last week, Cllr Carol Lennon spoke of the lack of equality and fairness for the people of East Meath.
She called on the council to provide equal access to all Municipal Districts when it comes to the bulk waste disposal.
“We see the mattress amnesty on track again and the sofa amnesty is coming up soon in a lot of the districts, but there is nothing anywhere near east coast. The response I got was that we can take our waste to Louth, Kildare or Dublin.
“The people of east Meath want to know why are we shipping our waste outside the county. Why can't we have an open depot at Laytown or Duleek. Cllr Joe Bonner facilitates us, but he doesn't even live in the area. It shouldn't be falling on the councillors.
“The people in east Meath don't get a discount when it comes to rates, they don't get a discount when it comes to property taxes and there is a huge deficit when it comes to amenities.
“We don't have a community centre, we don't have a swimming pool. We don't have a local park, we don't have a garda station and we don't have waste facilities,” she said.
A spokesperson for Meath County Council said the Council continues to support residents in the responsible disposal of bulky household waste through the provision of free Bulky Waste Amnesty Days at the Civic Amenity Sites in Navan, Trim and Kells, with an additional Recycling Centre in Dunboyne.
“These events are designed to reduce illegal dumping and to ease the financial burden of disposal costs for households by covering the actual cost of waste processing.
“We also recognise that Meath has a very large geographic footprint, with many residents living near county boundaries.
“These residents routinely access bulky waste days in neighbouring counties, all of whom provide similar schemes.
“Louth, Kildare and Dublin run free bulky waste days. Cavan and Monaghan run 50per cent-off events.
“This means that, in practice, residents all along the Meath border north, south, east and west can use whichever facility is closest to them, whether inside or outside the county. Residents can use mywaste.ie to identify the nearest facility to them.
“Bulky waste days are a regional norm, and Meath is performing fully in line with all neighbouring local authorities.
“Meath residents in all districts already have excellent access to bulky waste disposal options: three well distributed civic amenity sites, free bulky waste amnesty events funded by the Council and the ability to use neighbouring county amnesty days where geographically closer.”
“We remain committed to supporting communities, reducing litter, and promoting responsible waste management across all districts,” the council concluded.
- Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme