Local Aontú councillor Sarah O'Reilly has set down a motion at Cavan County Council asking officials to confirm that items recycled by residents here end up where they are supposed to.
Cavan Councillor O'Reilly said she was prompted to put down the motion after listening to a Dublin resident describe how he placed a tracker on his recycling bin and was shocked to discover that his recyclable waste was brought directly to the Poolbeg incinerator. The man in question placed a tracker on his recycling bin on four different occasions and each time, the private company he used, brought the recyclable material to be incinerated. Cllr O'Reilly's motion asks Cavan County Council officials to write every local waste recycling company and ask them to clarify where the recycled waste they pick up in the area ends up. Describing herself as a "very avid recycler", Cllr O'Reilly also told the council meeting that as usual, even with the new Deposit Return Scheme, which is to be rolled out nationwide from February, it is the consumer who is targeted. Saying that "no one wants their bunch of bananas in a plastic bag", Cllr O'Reilly criticised the Government for not targeting manufacturers for generating so much unnecessary recyclable waste.
Independent Councillor Shane P. O'Reilly supported the motion and described how he once followed a bin lorry - not in the Cavan jurisdiction - which emptied blue and black bins into the same opening at the back. After looking into the lorry, he found the waste was not separated inside. "I believe the wool is being pulled over our eyes," Councillor Shane P. O'Reilly said. Cavan County Council Director of Services Paddy Connaughton said he could not comment on what happens in other jurisdictions but agreed a freedom of information request could be submitted asking private companies what is brought to landfill or incineration.
