EPA rules on construction waste as useful as 'an ashtray on a motorbike'

BY DAVID FORSYTHE

ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency (EPA) rules regarding the disposal of construction waste are ‘about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike’ according to Kinsale-based FG councillor Kevin Murphy.

Mr Murphy made the comments at a recent meeting of Cork County Council’s Western Divisional Committee following a report to councillors by Louis Duffy, director of the Environment Directorate.

Councillors were informed that new rules regarding the disposal of used building materials such as soil, stone, concrete, bricks, ceramics, and asphalt aimed to make it easier to recycle such materials by regarding them as ‘byproducts’ rather than ‘waste.’

Cllr Murphy said that currently such materials are not usually recycled locally where they could be put to good use but often have to be taken by truck to a special facility in Co Waterford.

‘There were three quarters of a million tonnes in Ballygarvan that could have been put to use but the EPA said it was contaminated so it couldn’t be used. The EPA solution for this is as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle, it’s no use for people who want to get rid of building waste and it’s costing a fortune. What is the contamination in tarmac or concrete? They can’t use it because they say it’s contaminated, it’s a useless solution, we should be helping not hindering,’ he said.

FF councillor Joe Carroll agreed: ‘Concrete going to Waterford is ridiculous. This past week the road had to be shaved in Skibbereen, that could have been used in the show grounds for raising up the ground that needed to be done, but no, it’s contaminated according to the EPA. Taking this stuff by truck to Waterford goes against environmental thinking. The new school built in Skibbereen a few years ago was built where there is some of the best topsoil in the whole area. The local clubs really wanted to use this topsoil that was dug out and they were told it had to go back to the site, it’s lunacy and it still annoys people in the area.’

Louis Duffy said: ‘There are criteria, it needs to be clean and handled in a certain way, the area where it’s proposed to use it needs to be suitable.

‘If done carefully it should be suitable for use but we have to make sure there is nothing in there that could cause problems for ground water etc.’

He said that the criteria were currently being looked at by the EPA and he hoped that there would be some relaxation in the rules to make more building waste usable at a local level.

‘The EPA tend to be conservative and slow with their decisions and we have to work within the legislation,’ he added.

Kevin Murphy said that the mothballed Bottlehill landfill in North Cork should be put back into use rather than transporting building waste all the way to Waterford.

‘I raised the issue of Bottlehill before and I was rejected out of hand. We are paying €2M a year just to maintain that site, that’s nearly €10M spent on it already.

‘We should be using it to handle this waste instead of trucking it to Waterford,’ he said.