Waste Less for Wexford

Currently over half a tonne of waste is generated for every man, woman and child in County Wexford. That works out at around 50,000 tonnes or about 5,000 refuse trucks travelling in convoy.

This is a colossal amount of waste most of which ends up in Wexford County Council’s Landfill Site at Killurin. The Celtic Tiger continues to roar and the waste just keeps mounting up, increasing by about 4% a year. The European Union and the Irish Government have enacted legislation requiring the diversion of 50% of waste away from landfill by 2013. This will indeed be a mammoth task. County Council’s are engaged in waste management planning up and down the country to set up the improved waste management infrastructure that will be needed to meet this target.

Undoubtedly we have become a "throwaway society". We put our waste in plastic bags and then into nice wheel bins, every week the refuse truck arrives and empties our wheel bin and off our waste goes…. not our problem anymore! WRONG, it is a problem for us all. The Landfill Site at Killurin has a limited life left and finding a new Central Waste Management Facility will be very difficult. Over the next number of years the way we deal with waste will have to change, putting everything in one bin will become more expensive due to increasing environmental standards required for waste facilities.

However producing waste is not inevitable, for instance we don’t need to use the 1.2 billion plastic bags we use in Ireland every year. A plastic bag levy of 10p on every bag used will be introduced this year. Most supermarkets offer customers stronger reusable bags that will cut down on waste and help the environment, keep some in the car or in your coat pocket or handbag for convenience. There are some other things you can do to reduce your waste.

10 Waste Reduction Tips

• Avoid disposable items such as paper plates, plastic cups, etc.
   
• Always use your own shopping bag and remember to keep it handy.
   
• Look for minimally packaged products and avoid plastic packaging.
   
• Buy products in reusable or returnable containers.
   
• Buy both recyclable and recycled products, e.g. paper.
   
• Compost your food scraps and garden waste.
   
• Separate your waste for recycling, e.g. glass, drink cans, textiles, newspapers.
   
• Buy durable items, e.g. rechargeable batteries.
   
• Maintain goods and repair them where possible.
   
• Sell or donate unwanted clothing.