Clean Ireland Recycling, a family-run waste management business based in Cree, has cleaned up on the awards front, winning the Kerbside Collection Service of the Year Award at the 2014 Repak Recycling Awards.
Run by brothers, John and Michael O’Donoghue, Clean Ireland has a large kerbside customer base of 30,000 households and their waste management service covers Clare, Limerick, Kilkenny and South Tipperary.
They have a six-bin collection system, which consists of residual bins, mixed dry recyclables, food waste, glass, grass and clothes. They accept an extended range of materials in the mixed dry recyclables bin, once they are clean and dry.
The introduction of the multiple-compartment collection vehicles, which are the first of their kind in Europe, has meant that Clean Ireland only has to do fortnightly collections. This, in turn, minimises disruption to customers and lowers the carbon footprint, as well as collection costs.
Their pay-per-weight charging method, which applies the Polluter Pays principle, has proved successful, as they have a very low contamination rate of 6% in their unique 360L mixed dry recyclables bin.
The awards ceremony was held in The Lyrath Hotel in Kilkenny and was promoted by Repak to honour its members and contractors, who had made major contributions to Ireland’s environment through their sustainable recycling habits.
Areas such as agriculture, technology and hospitality were all honoured for their outstanding efforts in practicing effective recycling.
Chairing the awards ceremony was Newstalk’s Shane Coleman and over 200 delegates from member companies, contractors, local authorities and other stakeholders were recognised for their role in driving packaging reduction and best practice in packaging and electrical recycling.
“The Repak Recycling Awards recognise the continuous efforts of our partners and members, who do their utmost to help us achieve our packaging and recycling goals,” said Seamus Clancy, general manager, Repak. “The nominees for this year’s awards have all showed remarkable focus and determination in delivering best practice in packaging reduction,” he added.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.