Opening the Sunday Business Waste Summit 2011 conference yesterday (November 29), Hogan said it was time for decisions to be made in waste management policy and called targeted enforcement to be put in place to ensure Ireland’s waste management is “environmentally sound”.

He said: “The role of the forum will be to feed views and suggestions into the ongoing process of ensuring sustainable waste management in Ireland.

“I am sure that such a mechanism will build on the positive contribution of all stakeholders to the policy development process. I want the Forum to harness that “can do” spirit which has seen the waste sector through the recent challenging times.”

The minister admitted that there are no foregone conclusions in the policy development process, but said he wanted to see strong environmental outcomes resulting from policy initiatives.

Hogan said: “I want to see a greater level of awareness of waste prevention among the private and public sectors and among householders. This is a clear area where the economic and the environmental objectives come together.

“Not only can we have a reduction in the environmental impact of the way we live and do business, but we can all reduce the cost of managing our waste.”

Carys Matthews

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