Following a trial in the west of the county, the tender is being released for the North Cork region for a contract that will begin in early 2004. A tender is also being prepared for the larger southern region of the county.
The system will see householders given bins with microchips embedded inside, which will contain identification details. The bins will be weighed as they are lifted into the refuse collection vehicle, and the weight information, house identification and time of collection recorded for billing.
Householders in the trial area have been paying a flat rate fee of 160 euros (about 112) a year, then 23 cents (about 16p) per kilogram of waste they put out.
Katherine Walshe, head of the Cork County Council's environment section, said: “We are seeking tenders in North Cork for the installation of this type of wheelybin and we should have the system installed there at the beginning of 2004.”
Any householder found trying to abuse the system could find themselves in court, facing fines as high as 1,200 euros (almost 850) according to the Irish Examiner.
Bye-laws are being brought in on September 1, including minimum on-the-spot fines of 60 euros (42) for offences including waste found protruding from wheeled bin lids, the presence of hazardous or construction waste, bins that have not been properly maintained or any tampering with the bin microchips.
The largest Irish county with a population of about 300,000 people in both rural and large urban areas, Cork produces over 118,000 tonnes of household waste each year, projected to rise to 166,000 by 2020.
Recycling
Recovery rates are about 5%, with some kerbside collections carried out by various local recycling companies. However, the council sees its 200 bring and civic amenity sites as the most important part of its recycling strategy.
A waste management strategy review is due to take place in the next few months, in which the council hopes to expand the number of recycling sites to about 300, or 1 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Louis Duffy, senior engineer at Cork county council told letsrecycle.com: “We see the quality of material from bring sites as much better than that picked up from source segregation. We've looked at other counties' collection systems, and in one case with a bag collection there was 15% wastage [because of contamination], and moving to a bin there was 50% wastage – half the material had to go to landfill.”
The county hopes to meet Landfill Directive and Packaging Waste Directive target through the use of a materials recycling facility that could process up to 225,000 tonnes of material each year. This facility is in the final stages of a tender negotiation. The target for the MRF will be to reach 63% landfill diversion.
There are also plans in the pipeline for large scale composting pilot in the county, which will depend on the waste management strategy review.
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