'Bottle banks needed in Collinstown' - Devine

‘Bottle banks needed in Collinstown’ – Devine

Collinstown is without bottle banks, and local councillor Alfie Devine wants the situation rectified. At the monthly meeting Westmeath County Council, Cllr Devine said that the bottle banks had been removed due to problems with illegal dumping. He wondered if there was any parcel of council-owned land in the area on which the bottle banks could be stationed.

Senior environmental engineer Ciarán Jordan confirmed the removal of the banks, and said the council has been investigating what options exist: “We haven’t been able to identify any [suitable site] and we’re loath to go back to the original location, which was down at The Cut.”

He said if anyone could give any assistance in identifying a location, the council would examine it, but at present the council is not aware of any land in its own ownership that would suit and he added there was a need for the facility within the village.

Lights

At the same meeting, Cllr Devine asked for works to streetlights around Castlepollard. He said there was one area in particular on the Finea Road where all the lights are currently out of order.

Ambrose Clarke, senior engineer with the council, stated that the broken light could be registered for fixing via the council’s app and if it was a standard issue problem it would be attended to, and if not it would have to take its place in the queue.

‘Dumping at bring banks needs to be tackled’

Cllr Emily Wallace has called on the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad to impose penalties or fines on contractors that manage recycling bins, should they fail to lift bins regularly or after being contacted to do so when full. “This could help to alleviate the issue of dumping at our recycling centres around our district,” she said.

A response from the Environment Section stated that 48 bring banks located around the county contain bottle and can receptacles, and 23 of those also incorporate clothes banks.

“Some difficulties have been encountered with the operation of the clothes banks due to blocking of the receptacles with inappropriate bulky clothes items, which has led to unauthorised dumping of clothes around the receptacle by individuals,” the response read.

“Westmeath County Council continue to monitor the operation of the bring centres and particularly the clothes banks. Any clothes bank requiring servicing outside the normal schedule is promptly notified to the service contractor. “Contractors are completing their work in accordance with their contract.”