Signing of Contract - Waste Transfer Station

On Monday 20th January when Cork County Council awarded the contreact for the construction of a Waste Transfer Station and Civic Amenity in Castletownbere to Priority Construction Ltd., Dublin.   The Contract signing took place at the meeting of the Western Committee in Clonakilty. 

This development is the first in a series of measures planned for West Cork in the context of the wast management plam for Cork County.  The Waste Transfer Station will receive waste from both the public and private sectors and when compacted, the waste will be transferred in sealed containers to disposal facilities.  The network of wast transfer stations will eliminate the necessity of waste collection vehicles haveing to travel long distances to a single waste facility within the county as the present landfill facilities in West Cork, will in time, cease to operate.  The local Beara landfill facility ceased in January 1998 and at present our waste is being transported to the facility in Schull each week.

In addition to the waste transfer operations, the facility will include a new civic amenity site (recycling centre).  This site will provide opportunities for members of the public to recycle glass bottles, beverage cans, plastic bottles, paper/cardboard etc., together with a composting facility.  This will enable householders to reduce the quantity of waste presented for collection.

There will be other provisions at the site for the collection of waste oils, batteries, fluorescent tubes and will also accept household appliances such as fridges, freezers, gas stoves etc.  The Castletownbere Waste Transfer Station is a licensed facility having received a waste licence from the Environment Protection Agency on April 12th last.  This licence included requirements for continual environmental monitoring of the operation of the site.

The station will be located at a disused quarry at Foildarrig, North Road, adjacent to the local Co. Council office.  Cllr. Noel Harrington, Castletownbere was delighted to state that there were no objection whatsoever to the project and to the fact that it will be the first of such stations in West Cork.  Denis Regan, Chairman of Beara Action Group, reiterated this and also thanked Ger and Pauline Harrington for making the site available for this project.

We can all hope that on completion of the project, we can look forward to a clean, rubbish-free peninsula, thus making the area more environmentally friendly and pleasing to the eye.