Progress on tackling former Rathcabbin composting site

TACKLING the clean-up of the former Shannon Vermicomposting site in Rathcabbin has progressed significantly in the last year and locals are very pleased the job may be completed by the middle of 2023.

People living in and around the North Tipperary village have endured years of worry about pollution and frustration at the pace of the clean-up, but now local Councillors say the finish line is in sight.

Over 1,200 tonnes of waste which was not properly disposed of in Rathcabbin have been extracted and treated before being moved to the Ballaghveny local authority landfill site near Toomevara.

The members of the Nenagh Municipal Council received an update on the clean-up at their first monthly meeting of 2022 last week, prompting Cathaoirleach Michael O'Meara to thank the County Council's Environment Section and Kieran McKenna and his team for doing such a painstaking clean-up.

“They are working seamlessly with the local community and doing really excellent work”, the Chairman said.

“We had some teething problems at the start with the job, but it is going very well now”, he said. Cllr. O'Meara added that the HGV trucks used to transport the waste have had a serious impact on the roads in the area and he hopes remedial works can be carried out to restore the road network.

The removal of waste from the former Shannon vermicomposting facility in Rathcabbin commenced on December 2. It is anticipated for 2022 that it will take about 27 weeks to transfer 16,000 tonnes from Rathcabbin to Ballaghveny landfill.