Pay-by-weight bin charges are long overdue, according to local TD Denis Naughten, who said that these charges would benefit both elderly people and the environment. He called for the implementation of Government policy which was to see the introduction of pay-by-weight bin charges over two years ago. The system is still not up and running in County Roscommon, nor has the Council any plans in the short term to see such a system introduced. Denis Naughten was commenting following a response by the executive of Roscommon County Council to Cllr. Dominic Connolly who raised the issue at a recent meeting. Deputy Naughten said, "With the introduction of pay-by-weight/use system, people will also be encouraged to reduce the volume of waste going to landfill. However, unless recycling facilities are enhanced, this system will become nothing more than a further tax on householders. These facilities should be accessible and well maintained.’ "Unfortunately, facilities to recycle are not widely available, especially for people in isolated rural communities. At present in County Roscommon there is no door-to-door recycling facility for either glass or organic waste. While glass and many other materials can be recycled at our two civic amenity sites in the county, the difficulty is that some people have to travel over 30 miles to avail of this amenity. This means the idea of reducing waste is nothing more than a faint hope for those who do not have access to their own transport." "Waste management policy should be influenced by both environmental and social concerns. Waste collection charges exclusively based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle will inevitably pose a major burden for low-income households and the elderly, something which Fine Gael is opposed to," concluded Denis Naughten.
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