The decision by Ardagh to reverse its decision to close its Irish Glass Bottle company in Ringsend has been welcomed by Repak, the organisation which co-ordinates and finances the recycling of packaging waste. "Repak welcomes any initiative in the Ardagh crisis that would retain the very scarce and much-needed glass recycling facilities in Ireland," said Mr Andrew Hetherington, Repak chief executive.

He had expressed serious concern when Ardagh announced last month it was closing the plant, saying it would seriously hinder Repak and Ireland's ability to meet its recycling targets as set down by the EU for 2002 and beyond. He said it was a regressive step. Under EU regulations, Ireland must recycle 200,000 tonnes of packaging material, including glass, each year. Most of last year's 43,000 tonnes of glass was recycled by Irish Glass. Ireland does not have another manufacturing facility with a similar capacity to absorb recovered glass and the Ringsend closure could have meant that Ireland would in future have to export its recovered glass for recycling.

Following Ardagh's original announcement that it was closing the plant, Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, said he had asked his Department to examine the situation and consider alternative uses for waste glass.