COUNTY HALL, 10 October: by Trish Whelan. Recycling facilities at Kildare County Council’s landfill at Silliot Hill, Kilcullen have now been upgraded to include four main recycling areas to cover plastic, metal, paper and other waste.
The site is part of a recycling network established by Kildare County Council aimed at minimising pressure on landfill sites and to promote sustainable waste disposal. County Kildare produces 100,000 tons of waste each year.
Plastic includes mineral bottles, plastic milk containers, shampoo and detergent bottles; Metal - cars, steel food cans, all electrical goods and other metals; Paper and cardboard (folded flat and tape removed). Other waste includes Greens - Christmas trees etc to be turned into garden mulch which can be collected free at Silliot Hill - and Fluorescent tubes, vehicle and domestic batteries, waste oil and textiles.
The battery recycling scheme is operated in cooperation with the Kildare-town based company Returnbatt ltd., and a successful schools battery recycling project. The County Council supplies a battery recycling box to every school in the county that wishes to participate, and over 100 schools are already involved in the project.
The facilities were formally initiated by the chairman of Kildare County Council, Cllr John O’Neill, who stressed the need to avoid ‘using up the earth’s resources to the extent that there is little or nothing left for the next generation’. He said recycling is very much an investment for that generation, and the ones to come after it.
County manager Niall Bradley added that: “The prevention, minimisation and recycling of waste is essential if we are to respect our environment and be responsible in the use of the resources entrusted to us.” He said this will call for a cooperative effort involving citizens and the local authorities but the result will be a ‘safer, cleaner county for the benefit of future generations’
©2001knn