Recycle Is it worth it

05/11/2003

Archived item. This item is published here for historical reasons. The information below may be out of date.

Recycle-  Its worth it……….

Our environment needs protection and we are the only ones who can do it, it is the responsibility of each person to cut down on the amount of waste that we produce each year. Approx 1 tonne  per person per year.

On your doorstep you have the perfect opportunity to start……. Green Bins have been delivered to 66,000 of the 78,000 households in South Dublin County and the rest of the County will be supplied over the coming months

Now is the time to start and there is no excuse with facilities on your doorstep.

All your paper, cardboard and aluminium should be placed in your green bin to be made ready for re-maunufacturing into a range of products.  Most of the paper goes back into newsprint with companies such as Irish Times and Independent reusing it. Over the last twelve months the Council has sent 13,464 tonnes of paper for recycling,

Cardboard is reused for the manufacture of light board for packaging such as cereal boxes. In the last twelve months 8,913 tonnes of mixed cardboard has been recycled

This has a huge impact on the volumes that go to landfill but we need to further reduce as we in Ireland are still dumping in excess of 60% of used packaging that could be recycled !

We must be aware that Paper and cardboard are made from trees and it takes 17 trees to make 1 tonne of paper

Aluminium and Steel are re-smelted and used again for manufacture of Tin and Aluminium packaging. Last twelve months- 188 tonnes of aluminium cans and 563 tonnes of steel cans have been recovered

Very important to know - Aluminium is made from Bauxite ore- a non renewable resource. When we use it all, there is none left

In addition, the Council and Repak have provided 35 Bring Banks, at convenient locations throughout the County with a further 19  to be soon put in place .

These banks take glass bottles, jars and at a number of locations, textiles also. 

In the first half of this 2003, householders recycled 637,000 cans, the equivalent of 16.7 tonnes of aluminium and 810 tonnes of glass.

There are 9 textile recycling banks situated around the county. Householders are encouraged to bring their old clothes to these “yellow” coloured recycling banks. The clothes recycled at these locations are generally sent abroad to poorer nations.

To make things easier for householders further facilities for recycling in our County include :-

White goods recovery at Clondalkin Community Recycling Initiative. This has been  put in place by the Council and Clondalkin Partnership. The facility is at Crag Terrace Unit 14, Clondalkin Industrial Estate, Clondalkin. It is a bring centre for all your old household “ white goods “ and there they will collect and dispose of Fridges, Washing Machines, Cookers and other equipment safely.

Since its inception in Summer 2003, 505 Fridges/Freezers, 811 Washing Machines, 245 Cookers and 71 Dryers have been recovered and recycled.  There is nominal charge of €25 for fridge/freezers and €10 for all others.

For Collection add €5. For further information contact 01-4578321 0r 4577368

Hazardous Waste Collections are carried out by the Council who provide a disposal facility for paints, oils, batteries, medicines and chemicals at specific times during the year.  Locations are advertised in advance and collection and disposal of dangerous waste is carried out cleanly and safely by the Council. In 2003, we collected 7,250 kilos of hazardous waste at a cost of €33,190 (that’s €4.41 per kilo to recover/recycle this huge amount of hazardous waste. The types of hazardous waste collected were Oil, lead acid batteries, alkaline batteries, paint, obsolete machines, aerosols, pesticides, fluorescent tubes 

Junk Collections schedules are put in place for the convenience of residents of our Housing Estates. This year alone, the Junk Collection crews have collected and disposed of 1,455 tonnes of rubbish.  923 Fridges, 899 Washing Machines, 465 Cookers, 132 Other white goods

This figure excludes the weights of White Goods brought to the new facility at Clondalkin

Recyclables

Battery Recycling: 30 schools participating in battery recycling as part of their Greenschools competition projects.

Garden Composters: The council provides free composters to schools and residents interested in recycling organic waste. An average of 300 free composters are provided by the council each year to residents.

Ballymount Civic Amenity Facility:

The Council’s facility at Ballymount accepts the following materials for recycling:

Scrap metal, cardboard, timber, waste oil (not cooking oil), paper, glass, beverage cans, plastic containers, plastic bags, textiles, household batteries, car batteries, electrical appliances/white goods.

Release on behalf of Benny Hickey, Head of Corporate Services Department