Council to decide future of expensive local dump

Council to decide future of expensive local dump

11 January 2012 - by DAVID TELFORD

DOWN Council could sell dumping space at its Drumanakelly landfill site near Seaforde.

The option is one of a number currently under consideration as the local authority considers the future of the sprawling site which costs ratepayers around £600,000 a year to run.

The landfill site was divided into four sections when it opened for business, each capable of accommodating thousands of tonnes of rubbish.

Two of the sections have been filled and capped and all waste currently

generated across the district is now being dumped in phase three. But the future of the dump’s final phase has yet to be decided.

Council chief executive, Mr. John Dumigan, said the organisation is currently examining a number of options on the future of the dump.

He said the council has to decide shortly if it will proceed with a £1m investment to line the final phase of the landfill site with a special material which must be in place before any waste can be dumped.

Mr. Dumigan said substantial reductions in the amount of waste which can be sent to landfill come into play next year, which means Down Council will have to either recycle more rubbish or possibly have it incinerated by the Arc 21 waste management organisation of which the local authority is one of 11 members.

“From next year less waste will be going to landfill which means we will have more rubbish we either have to recycle or treat,” he continued.

“There is only so much that we can recycle, so we are left with a large tonnage of waste that we have to find something to do with. How we move forward is a matter for the politicians.”

The council chief executive confirmed the current part of the landfill site being used at Drumanakelly is not expected to be full until 2015. However, Mr. Dumigan said a decision has to be made now about what happens to the final phase.

“We need to complete phase three. The big question is, do we open the final phase and spend £1m to line it or do we sell the available space?

“We could not and would not sell the landfill site as we are locked into a 30-year management agreement, but selling available dumping space in the final phase of the dump is an option we are looking at.”

Mr. Dumigan also hopes a private company which is to extract methane gas buried beneath hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste at the landfill site to generate electricity will begin its work shortly.

He added: “The electricity will be sold to the national grid, with Down Council getting a percentage of the money the private company will make from this venture. The council is also planning to erect a number of wind turbines at the landfill site to produce electricity.”