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Relove Paint Reaches 30 Tonne Milestone
L to R: Council staff and Social Enterprises – Colman Kelly; John O’Donovan; Noel O’Grady; John Paul O Neill; Lisa Collins; Wayne ODonnell, Northside Community Enterprises; Mairead Hales; Sheila Brennan; Tara Mulhall, Northside Community Enterprises; Fay Kelleher, Cycle Sense; Don O’Sullivan; Alison Foran; Tomas O’Shea; Colm O’Connor, IRD Duhallow; Enda Kiernan; Alan Murphy.
The Relove Paint programme launched by the council nearly 5 years ago, looks to divert paint deposited at Civic Amenity Sites from incineration to re-use. Through collaboration with local social enterprises the paint is collected from Civic Amenity Sites, filtered, remixed and recoloured creating a low cost but high-quality product. The paint is available to purchase through the three social enterprises Cycle Sense (Skibbereen), IRD Duhallow (Newmarket) and Northside Community Enterprises (Farranferris) at just €15 per 5litre bucket.
Relove Paint recently reached the significant milestone, of 30 tonnes of paint being diverted from incineration to reuse. To reflect on the success and indeed challenges of the project, a workshop took place on 12th November bringing together the three social enterprises producing Relove Paint; Cycle Sense, IRD Duhallow and Northside Community Enterprises (NCE) along with Council Environment Directorate staff who have supported the initiative since its inception.
Since the project first started in 2019 it has grown from two social enterprises, Cycle Sense and Northside Community Enterprises (NCE) collecting, remixing and selling paint to the addition of IRD Duhallow in 2022. The number of participating civic amenity sites where paint is collected for reuse has also increased from 3 to 9.
Nationally, there are 9 paint reuse social enterprises now operating, with 11 Local Authorities participating, 27 civic amenity sites and 80+ tonnes have been diverted from incineration to reuse in total. Based on these statistics, it is evident that Cork County is a leader in paint reuse.
Greening Festivals in Cork County
Ballymaloe Festival of Food 2024
While summer may seem like a distant memory now, the Environmental Awareness Team have recently published a video case study showing a variety of sustainability initiatives it supported as partners of the Ballymaloe Food Festival in May. The purpose of the video is to inspire other festivals to do the same!
The Council has for many years been assisting festivals and events to improve their sustainability. The Green Festival Toolkit, available on the Council website, provides festival organisers with a range of resources to support them in taking action to reduce the impact of their festivals.
This year we were delighted to partner with the team at Ballymaloe to pilot a reusable cup system and waste segregation stations at their inaugural Ballymaloe Festival of Food in May 2024. The event saw over 4,000 single use plastics cups avoided and high levels of segregation of recyclable and compostable materials, using the national My Waste signage. Another initiative at the event was the use of the MyGug Biodigester, which turned food waste from the festival into biogas which powered the hobs at the cooking demonstrations. A great example of the circular economy in action.
Festivals seeking support to pilot initiatives should email eao@corkcoco.ie
Click here for more information on the Green Festivals supports.
Community Climate Action Programme Supplementary Call
Deadline for applications 22nd January 2025
Cork County Council has received approval from the Dept. of the Environment, Climate and Communications to run a supplementary call for applications for the Community Climate Action Programme (Call 1, Part B), with a total budget of €240,734.72, the surplus from CCC’s initial allocation.
Applications opened on the 11th December 2024 for a period of six weeks, with a closing date of the 22nd January 2025 at 16:00.
Successful projects will have a reduced timescale of ten months to deliver their project. This call has an increased focus on more innovative projects and the submission of applications from projects in Cork County’s Decarbonising Zone (Macroom) is encouraged.
Call 1 Part B is only open to eligible applicants that did not submit an application under the first Call, and will be based on the same application criteria as the first Call.
Further details regarding the CCAP Call 1 Part B application process will be announced shortly on CCC’s website and social media channels.
MyWaste Recycling Labels
Helping you make the right choices when disposing of waste!
Packaging labels and recycling symbols are used to guide citizens to make the right choices when disposing of their waste. Correct disposal of packaging is vitally important to the circular economy, so that our consumption of resources is as efficient as possible.
Unfortunately, there are multiple variations of labels in use, many companies use the same packaging for both the ROI and UK markets but only use recycling labels applicable to the UK, so understandably this causes confusion for Irish consumers.
MyWaste.ie have introduced a labelling scheme for Ireland so that citizens can be clear on what is recyclable or not. These labels are slowly being rolled out and when you see them you can be confident that the information provided is correct.
Companies wishing to avail of the free on-pack labels should contact Pauline McDonagh from MyWaste at Pauline.McDonogh@limerick.ie.
Solid Fuel Regulations
Air Quality in Ireland
In their recently published Air Quality in Ireland Report 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called on Local authorities to facilitate proactive choices on both home heating and travel, through strong application of the Solid Fuel Regulations and supporting alternatives to car travel. The report again highlights that air pollution can be a major environmental risk to people’s health, with approximately 1,600 premature deaths annually in Ireland due to poor air quality.
Ireland’s latest monitoring shows we are in compliance with current EU standards, and Air Quality in Ireland is generally moving in a positive direction. However, Ireland has committed under the national Clean Air Strategy to achieving the more stringent World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline values by 2040 which will be a challenge.
The main pollutants of concern are fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from solid fuel combustion and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from vehicle emissions/traffic.
Construction & Demolition Waste
Phase out of the Levy Exemption
The phasing out of the waste recovery and landfill levy exemptions for construction and demolition waste came into effect on 1st September 2024. The changes will reduce construction waste and encourage the construction industry to use by product (Article 27) classification as an alternative.
The introduction of the levy will reduce construction industry costs and help Ireland achieve its overall waste performance and EU targets. There are four phases commencing on 1st September 2024 for recovering the Waste Recovery levy. The phased approach gives the construction industry time to engage with the Article 27 self-declaration process, ensuring materials are recycled and reused for longer.
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All are reminded that no slurry spreading is permitted between 1st October 2024 and 12th January 2025.
Anyone wishing to report illegal spreading can do so via YourCouncil.ie, by email to environ@corkcoco.ie or by phone to 021 4532700.
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