Ahern announces close to €7m in funding for further development of recycling facilities in Dublin

05/04/2004

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 The information below may be out of date.

Noel Ahern, T.D., Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, today (5 April 2004) announced the allocation of close to €7m in grants to Dublin City Council towards the cost of new recycling facilities.

The grants allocated today will further assist the roll-out of the recycling infrastructure required as part of the implementation of the Dublin Region Waste Management Plan. As well as supporting the provision of new bring banks, the funding being provided will support the development of a new Materials Recovery Facility which will be used to sort an expanded range of recyclable materials collected separately in the region. "These allocations will support the efforts of the Dublin local authorities to develop significant additional recycling capacity. The coming on stream of the new Materials Recovery Facility will constitute a very important step towards full implementation of the region's waste management plan", said Minister Ahern.

Today's allocations are part of a capital grants scheme provided for in the Regional Operational Programmes under the National Development Plan (2000 to 2006). The funding for the grants comes from the Environment Fund, which is financed by the proceeds of the plastic bags and landfill levies, and the projects will attract assistance from the European Regional Development Fund.

Already householders in Dublin have a segregated collection service available through which certain recyclable materials are collected separately. By providing the capacity to sort a wider range of materials, the new Materials Recovery Facility will facilitate the progressive extension of the segregated collection service in the Dublin region. Coupled with the ongoing development of Bring Banks and Civic Amenity Sites (Recycling Centres), this will ensure that the region has access to the broad range of infrastructure and services necessary to support the achievement of the waste management plan's ambitious recycling targets.