By Dan Walsh
Labour Candidate for Rosslare Municipal District, Damien Corish, has backed a joint Local Elections document endorsed by the trade unions, SIPTU, Forsa and Connect to allow Local Authorities to resume household waste collection,
Wexford County Council exited from waste collection over 15 years ago along with other councils as the waste collection business was privatised. There are 20 operators nationally with four collecting domestic waste in Co. Wexford.
Mr Corish told WexfordLocal.com “that regardless of there being a market there is very little competition between operators. Customers are poorly served by an inefficient system where bin collecting trucks follow one another down narrow country lanes blocking traffic.”
Mr Corish also said “Ireland is an outlier when it comes to waste collection in that we have handed over waste collection to the private sector completely. Consequently 23% of households now have no domestic waste collection, Fly tipping is on the rise in rural areas. Cleaning up this mess is a cost that is picked up by the County Council. “Why shouldn’t councils be able to develop a revenue stream from collecting domestic household waste for further processing?” he asks.
“In order to allow councils return to municipality of the collection of waste the 1996 Waste Management Act needs to be amended,” said Mr Corish, who added; “If elected to Wexford County Council I will campaign for the council to resume domestic waste collection in Co. Wexford.
WexfordLocal.com 