I would like to add my voice to the concern expressed for the 375 people who have been told they will lose their jobs following the closure of the Ardagh glass plant. They are not just statistics, each of them has a life with commitments, mortgages and families. The shock of the news broken last week should not be underestimated. This is a blow to the pride and well-being of all of these people.
The issue also has serious implications for the recycling industry. At present, the Ardagh glass bottle plant processes 30,000 tonnes of glass, the equivalent of 90 million bottles and jars, collected from recycling centres across the State by Rehab. Should the processing plant be closed, Rehab has expressed serious concerns about the future viability of glass recycling. The organisation has publicly stated its desire to see some form of Government intervention to ensure this form of recycling continues.
Bottles are brought to Ballymun, where they are processed according to colour. The lids and labels are removed, the bottles are crushed and then passed on to the glass plant in Ardagh that is now due to close. For every tonne of glass cullet added to the furnace in the glass plant in Ringsend, energy savings equivalent to 30 gallons of oil are made. That puts into perspective what recycling does for the environment and demonstrates its value.
We are aware of the success of glass collection systems. It is the easiest packaging product to recycle and reuse, although we still only recycle 30% of it. The Estimates for the Department of the Environment and Local Government for the coming year will provide an additional €29 million to develop civic amenity sites for recyclable products but the system becomes a joke if we cannot provide the facilities to deal with the product once it is collected. Recycling is not just about collecting a product, it is about providing the facilities to ensure it is reusable.
The threatened closure of the Ardagh plant, however, has serious repercussions for the recycling industry. Rehab has three options open to it now: it might not bother collecting the glass, leaving it to be put into landfill, but no-one wants to take such a retrograde step; it could be shipped abroad but that cannot be done without a subsidy; or we can support the existing recycling industry.
The announcement of the closure of the Ardagh plant gives rise to a serious problem. Glass products are easy to recycle but we will not be able to continue in future and this speaks volumes about our attitude to recycling our waste. This is a crisis and unless there is intervention, glass recycling will cease and there will be repercussions for other materials that can be recycled.