Council will examine low brown bin uptake

A study is to begin within weeks to try to find out why the uptake for the brown bin service is low in Westmeath compared to other parts of the country.

The study is to be carried out in Rochfortbridge and Westmeath County Council has revealed it is poised to appoint the consultant for the project, which the council executive hopes will begin in August.

Ruth Maxwell from Westmeath County council’s environmental section said that the study is to take the form of a door-to-door survey and distribution of brown bin information and leaflets.

Ms Maxwell was outlining the details for members of Westmeath County Council’s Environment, Climate Action, Water and Emergency Services SPC at their July meeting – held via video conferencing – on Wednesday of last week.

Ms Maxwell said the brown bin was introduced nationally in 2013 and was phased in over a number of years.

Since 2016, residents in areas with a population of greater than 500 are supposed to segregate their food waste and keep it separate from other waste streams.

The towns in Westmeath that have a brown bin service are Moate, Mullingar, Kinnegad, Rochfortbridge, Tyrrellspass, Killucan/ Rathwire, Kilbeggan, Delvin, Clonmellon and Castlepollard.

County council director of services Martin Murray said Westmeath is having difficulty in getting its performance up in terms of use of the third bin.

“This specific part of project is tailored to try to improve that,” he said, explaining that the hope is that it will give the council a better understanding of why households are not taking up the option of the third bin.

“We need to understand why and get a better understanding of how they interact with the service providers, ie the waste collectors,” he said.

Cllr Hazel Smyth said she looked forward to seeing the outcome of the study, and Jack O’Sullivan remarked that generally this country scores low in terms of segregating waste.

In Austria, he said, households have to segregate their waste into five different categories.

“Slovenia used to be very bad, but within a year – and I don’t know how they did it – they became one of the best countries as well,” he said, suggesting that the consultant be tasked with investigating such questions through the European Environment Bureau and Zero Waste Europe.

SPC chairman Cllr Frank McDermott said a key issue was that of education and determining how to bring people along, rather than having to force them.