Cullen promises to reward green county councils

The Minister of Environment, Mr Martin Cullen, today pledged to reward local authorities who were "driving the environmental agenda" with extra funding.

Speaking to the Local Authority Members' Association in Donegal, Mr Cullen announced a €55 million environmental expenditure programme, most of which would go to improving the State's recycling infrastructure.

He said the funding would go to those authorities who "responded positively to the waste challenge".

The money is being made available from the State's Environment Fund, which is financed from plastic bag and landfill levies.The fund diverts money to recycling initiatives, litter prevention programmes and waste awareness campaigns.

Mr Cullen called on local authorities to 'ramp-up' their efforts on recycling, saying "unprecedented funds are now available".

He said: "My message to local authorities is clear - those that are driving the environmental agenda will be rewarded, those that are not will go to the back of the queue."

A total of €35 million will be made available to local authorities in the form of grant assistance for waste recycling and recovery initiatives.The scheme intends to increase the number of 'bring banks' for recyclable goods as well as civic amenity sites for bulky household wastes.

The Green Party dismissed the Government's recycling policy as "all promotion but little provision".

"Recycling facilities are still woefully inadequate and make it almost impossible for most people around the country to do the right thing," sid Mr Eamon Ryan, TD for Dublin South.

"The success of the plastic bag levy should have shown the Minister that the Irish public needs very little encouragement to reduce the amount of rubbish created. Instead of putting the resulting funds into more promotional campaigns Mr Cullen should invest in the systems which would allow us recycle the plastic bottles and tetra packs that still fill our rubbish bins.

"This Government's real priorities are revealed by the fact that they are about to spend hundreds of millions around the country on several municipal waste incinerators at the same time that this much smaller fund is launched toward recycling efforts."