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Launch of the Certificate in Compost Facility Operation By John Gormley T.D Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government
At the Enrich Composting & Manufacturing Facility 27th March 2008
Low Resolution Videos of Speeches can be Downloaded. You need broadband
Address by Percy Foster, Executive Administrator Cré (25mb) (3-5 minutes to download) Address by FAS Assistant Director General, Martin Lynch (6mb)(1 minuute to download) Address by Billy Fitzgerald, Head of Env. Sci, IT Sligo (20mb) (3 minutes to download) Address by Minister John Gormley T.D. (33mb) (3-5 minutes to download)
L to R- Bill Delaney (FAS), Gerry Johnson (FAS), Minister John Gormley, Percy Foster (Cre), Billy Fitzgerald (Institute of Technology Sligo) and Martin Lynch, Assistant Director General (FAS)
John Gormley T.D. Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government Bagging Compost to Bring Home to Use in his Garden
The compost was manufactured from garden & landscape materials collected around Dublin City
The following is an abstract
of Minister Gormely's speech at the Launch of the Cré - IT Sligo-
FAS Certificate in Compost Facility Operation;
"The government is acutely aware of the need to make rapid progress in
diverting biowaste and towards that end the program for government
commits us to implementing the National Strategy on Biodegradable waste.
It’s clear therefore that if composting is to play its part in meeting
our targets as envisaged in the National Strategy we must be clear about
the measures that need to be put in place to support the achievement of
that objective. The first and most urgent priority in my view is to
support greater levels of composting and we need to do that through, as
we said earlier on, source segregation including the rapid rollout
across the country of the brown bin collections for biodegradable waste.
My department will shortly issue a circular letter to local authorities
advising that steps need to be taken promptly to introduce brown bin
segregated collections for biowaste. I see this as an absolute priority
because as we said earlier on, this gives you a far better quality of
compost.
The EPA as I’ve mentioned has signalled and the industry has made it
very clear that falling gate fees at landfill facilities are undermining
composting and other recycling operations. This is not acceptable in my
view. In the short term I want to signal very clearly that landfill is a
solution of the past that can only have a minor and I believe
diminishing role in the future. While the present legal framework
curtails what I can do in the short term it is intended to increase the
landfill levy to the maximum extent possible and that’s under current
legislation. I do intend to go further than that as I indicated earlier
on and I want to introduce now legislation that enables me to increase
the landfill levy and to accompany that with an incineration levy.
The viability of the composting industry also critically depends on
the quality of the product it manufactures. There’s no point I believe
in manufacturing a product if you cannot actually sell it. The key to
developing markets is quality. I understand that work on the development
of the quality standard by Cré is well advanced as part of the Market
Development Program funded by my department. None is more important than
the development of the quality standard. I would also like to see the
associated quality assurance scheme put in place as quickly as possible.
This will give your clients and consumers greater confidence in the
products you manufacture and this in turn will stimulate demand.
I’d also, like at this point, to acknowledge other market
development work being carried by Cré including the publication recently
of the Compost Marketing Handbook developed with Fás, and Ron Alexander
and associates. In recognition of this work and other measures being
undertaken by Cré and other stakeholders in this area I‘m pleased to
announce that my department will sponsor Cré’s Annual Conference this
year.
The picture I’ve painted thus far will see quality standards driving
demand and brown bins delivering feedstock. The challenge for industry
is to deliver capacity. If segregated collections are to be rolled out
compliant composting infrastructure is required to progress the diverted
biodegradable municipal waste. These facilities must have planning
permission, be appropriately permitted or licensed in accordance with
waste management legislation and comply with the Department of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods’ rules on Animal By Products. The
challenge for industry is to deliver this capacity between now and 2010.
All of this brings me by round about route back to today’s event. If we
are going to have more facilities and bigger facilities we need people
to operate them. Trained operators are better operators and all areas of
activity benefit from skilled and knowledgeable staff- composting is no
different. I commend all involved; Cré; the Institute of Technology in
Sligo; Fás – all for the excellent work in delivering this training
program. In particular, I want to congratulate the 38 or so people who
have completed the course and I say well done to all of you. I hope in
my remarks here today I’ve managed to convey the central role I see for
composting in meeting our diversion targets. I know the industry sees
itself as a product manufacturer rather than as a waste processor. I
believe that it is this focus on resources and not on waste that offers
the best hope for a very successful future. Continuing to work together
we can make progress towards our common goals- diversion of
biodegradable municipal waste and the development of a thriving compost
industry".
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