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MINISTER ANNOUNCES MAJOR NEW RECYCLING INITIATIVES TO BENEFIT DUBLIN HOUSEHOLDERS

29^TH March 2007: Mr Dick Roche, TD, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government today launched the start of construction work on one of the largest and most sophisticated Materials Recovery Facilities in Europe. The facility is located at Ballymount in South Dublin County and is designed to cater for the processing of Green Bin materials in the Dublin Region for the next 20 years, using the most modern electronic and mechanical equipment on the market. When completed in the early part of next year, it will have the capacity to process in excess of 100,000 tonnes of materials per annum.

The extra capacity being provided by the new facility will enable plastic bottles to be collected in the Green Bin and the Dublin local authorities have given a commitment to introduce a fortnightly collection service. The roll-out of this new service will start in May of this year in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area.

The Minister warmly welcomed the commencement of work on the new 28m Facility which is a partnership arrangement between his Department and the four Dublin local authorities and he announced that his Department would be providing significant funding for the project. He also welcomed the commitment by the four Dublin Local Authorities to start rolling out the collection of plastic bottles in the Green Bin and increasing the frequency of collection.

In 2006, around 130,000 tonnes of Dublins household waste was recycled, of which 67,000 tonnes came through the Green Bin service. said Minister Roche. This represents close to 30% of the amount of household waste generated in the region and is a tremendous tribute to the environmental awareness of Dubliners and their commitment to recycling. The provision of this new facility at Ballymount, in South Dublin County, together with the collection of plastic bottles in the Green Bin and a more frequent collection service will enable that recycling figure to be significantly increased over the coming years.

The Director of Environmental Services for South Dublin County Council, Ms.Mary Pyne said that the Dublin Local Authorities have set a recycling target of 59% in their Waste Management Plan and are delighted with the progress being made towards reaching that highly ambitious objective. She also gave details of the roll out of the new Green Bin service.

The fortnightly collection service and the collection of plastic bottles will start in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown area in May. Said Ms. Pyne. The new service will be extended to 200,000 households before the end of 2007 and to all 400,000 households in the Region by the middle of 2008. All households receiving the enhanced service will be notified well in advanced and given their new collection calendar.

Full information on recycling services in the Dublin Region is available on www.DublinWaste.ie.

ENDS.

For further information: Please contact Michael Coleman at South Dublin County Council Tel.01-414900 Ext. 4200 or at email address mcoleman@sdublincoco.ie