The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Tom Hayes T.D, recently launched the Farm Hazardous Waste Collection scheme at Cillin Hill Livestock Mart in Co. Kilkenny.
Minister Hayes stated “the success of the 2013 hazardous waste collection scheme was primarily down to how well the different State Bodies cooperated together and the participation of the farmers.”
Minister Hayes went on to say that he was “heartened by the farmer response to this multi-agency initiative which shows that when farmers are provided with a means of disposing of this type of waste in a safe way they will use it. The success of this initiative demonstrates the need for an annual scheme to be established on an annual basis and the agencies involved will use the information gathered from the 2013 and 2014 pilot schemes to assist in the implementation of such a scheme”.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has teamed up with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Teagasc, and local authorities (Kilkenny, Offaly, Fingal, Cavan, Donegal, Mayo, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Wexford), WEEE Ireland, European Recycling Platform (ERP) and RILTA Environmental Ltd to operate ten bring centres for the collection of farm hazardous wastes across the country in October and November 2014.
This cross Government collaboration is being run for the benefit of farmers and will have many positive environmental and human safety consequences.
This is the second farm hazardous waste campaign and follows on from the very successful initial pilot scheme in 2013. The pilot scheme saw nearly 900 farmers bring a total of 94 tons of hazardous waste and 22 tons of waste electrical equipment and batteries to six collection points. The 2013 scheme received tremendous support from the farming community who showed their willingness to avail of an opportunity to dispose of this waste despite the small costs associated with the collection.
Information on the waste types accepted, the charges applied and important information relating to the handling, segregation, packing and transporting of hazardous waste by farmers to the bring centres can be viewed at www.epa.ie or by calling LoCall: 1890 33 55 99.
