Reduction is key to managing waste crisis

Big business has a reputation for using, abusing and polluting the environment - creating waste rather than managing it. Representing industry and promoting the protection of the environment might seem like a complicated double act, but IBEC's environment unit has been at the forefront of recent concerns over waste management in Irish cities.

"Waste management in Ireland has reached a chaotic situation," IBEC's assistant director and spokeswoman for the environment, Dr Mary Kelly, warned earlier this year.

Dr Kelly was prompted to speak out by changes in the amount of waste that can be disposed of at a landfill facility in Balleally in Dublin. The site is nearing capacity and, in order to postpone its closure, Fingal County Council has introduced a quota system on waste contractors dumping commercial waste there.

"Dublin could face the same situation as Galway had a few months ago, with bags of refuse lying uncollected on the streets," Dr Kelly cautioned.

"In fact, it went reasonably OK," she says now. "The constraints have only been in operation for a short time, and August is a reasonably light month in terms of waste because people are away. But pinches are occurring for some companies: some hotels and supermarkets may find it more difficult to find contractors to take away their waste."

Fingal County Council has reduced the amount of commercial waste being accepted at Balleally by 50 per cent, while gate fees for waste contractors have increased from £55 (€70) to £80 per tonne. "It is very frustrating for waste contractors," says Dr Kelly. "They almost don't know from day to day where to put waste."

The possibility of rubbish gathering outside commercial premises because waste contractors have nowhere left to go causes practical headaches for businesses and creates an image of a city that cannot manage its own waste. Both problems could damage tourism.

A recent survey by Dublin Tourism and the Dublin Institute of Technology showed that one in four visitors said Dublin was a "dirty city". "We're finding that litter and the state of the physical environment is one of the things people like least about the country," says Mr John Brown, a spokesman for Bord Fβilte.

But the establishment of a waste management infrastructure is not a major concern for the tourist industry, he says, and there is no conflict between the tourist trade and manufacturing industries producing large amounts of waste.

Enforcing anti-litter measures will benefit the tourist industry more directly: an extra £3 million will be spent by Dublin Corporation over the next three years on extra litter bins, wardens and extended street cleaning services.

Mr Frank Magee, chief executive of Dublin Tourism, agrees that it is more individual thoughtlessness than structural, industry problems that has led to Dublin's "dirty city" tag. But the situation has improved, he says. "For the first time, we are getting compliments. Dublin Corporation has put huge resources into the problem, although it is not perfect yet."

Still, it may be difficult for businesses to prove their environmentally friendly credentials to tourists and the general public if stinking mounds of refuse start piling up outside their front doors.

As Balleally is the only site available for food waste or waste contaminated with food, this could be a realistic scenario, according to Dr Kelly. But Fingal County Council stresses that only 15 per cent of Dublin's commercial waste is food waste, and this is being given priority at the landfill.

IBEC and affiliated organisation Irish Waste Management Association have called on Government to set up a national waste management authority to bring a "single focus" to the issue of waste management infrastructure.

At present, the Department of the Environment and Local Government is responsible for overall policy, the Environment Protection Agency acts as the regulatory authority responsible for licensing landfill facilities, and local authorities are responsible for regional waste management planning.

Local authorities are also responsible for providing disposal facilities for domestic waste.

"The legislation doesn't make anyone responsible for commercial waste as it does with household waste, so when landfills are nearing capacity, the first thing they will do is ban commercial waste because they are not legally obliged to take it," says Dr Kelly.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, says Dr Kelly. As waste disposal from business premises in Irish cities is increasingly threatened by the lack of available landfill sites, the private sector is applying for licences from the Environmental Protection Agency to own and operate their own "super dumps".

Celtic Waste opened the Republic's first private sector landfill site at Kilcullen, Co Kildare, in 1999 and is examining eight possible sites to add to this facility.

"There is commercial infrastructure springing up - but not everywhere," says Dr Kelly. "Commercial companies will only open sites where they can make money, after all."

Commercial operations face the same difficulties as their publicly run counterparts, as a "not in my back yard" attitude to planning applications for waste management sites grows. "People want recycling but nobody wants a bottle bank near them," says Dr Kelly.

IBEC's environment unit runs a workshop on environmental communications designed to smooth relations between companies and community groups concerned about the environmental implications of nearby landfills.

"The communications workshop is a new enough course, but communications are becoming a much more important aspect of environment management," says Dr Kelly. "Before, the environment manager for a company was a technical person who made sure the terms of the company's licences were adhered to but now there's a huge amount of relationship-building and trust-building that needs to be done."

IBEC also runs workshops on maintaining an integrated pollution control licence, implementing packaging waste reduction and other waste management issues.

"An awful lot of companies need to reduce waste, so our workshop would tell them what and how much waste they have," explains Dr Kelly. "To be fair, industries are trying to cut down on waste. A lot of waste contractors are looking for outlets for recyclable material and companies are realising that employees may need training on the environment," says Dr Kelly. "But, in Ireland, it seems that it is less a case of waste management and more a case of crisis management, all the time."