Professor Wilson was speaking at a ceremony in Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, where Mr Kiernan, an engineer at Cork City Council, became president. The Professor said his own year as president had been dominated by one topic – plastic and in two ways. One was plastic in the marine environment and the second was the impact of China’s ban.
The professor also noted that it had been a “difficult year for CIWM with restructuring and an action plan agreed, which is to put the Institution back on a solid footing”.
‘Embedded’
And, welcoming the incoming president, Professor Wilson said that CIWM has a “need for its president to be embedded and working in the sector which Enda would be”. He also highlighted how Mr Kiernan will be the third president from Ireland in five years as well as being the first from the Republic of Ireland – while both the professor himself and John Quinn (2014/15) were from Northern Ireland.
Mr Kiernan, who is senior executive engineer with Cork County Council, will have Trevor Nicholl and Adam Read to support him during his term in office with Mr Nicholl of South Cambridgeshire district council (UK) to become president next year, and Dr Read of SUEZ UK the following year.
Pay by Weight
Involved in delivering local authority services since 1997, specialising in waste management and in waste operations in particular, Mr Kiernan’s experience includes the permitting, design, tendering and project management of waste related infrastructure, including landfills and civic amenity facilities. He was also project manager for the introduction of the Pay by Weight system and the kerbside collection of dry recyclables in South Cork.
Infrastructure
In his first speech as CIWM president, Mr Kiernan commented on the quality of infrastructure in Ireland, describing it as “poor” and said that this is “the most problematic factor for doing business in this country.”
With the population of the island predicted to reach 8 million people by 2040, the president warned: “Planning for an extra 1½ million people, their homes, places of work and the infrastructure required to support this growth, whilst at the same time ensuring environmental quality, poses many challenges.”
Video interview
And, in a video interview (above) with letsrecycle.com, at the Aviva Stadium immediately after taking up the presidency, Mr Kiernan talks about his hopes for his year in office and the role of energy from waste sector and RDF exports.
He also reflects on issues around pay as you throw, which he suggests the UK “might have to consider if it was to go down that route”.
So, is it true that a quarter of households in Ireland don’t have a domestic waste collection service at all? If so, that doesn’t seem like a good way of implementing Pay as You Throw. And if those people are burning their waste in their domestic fireplaces or bonfires that hardly supports their reasons for objecting to EfW facilities!