Public and private waste industry representatives as well as business operators interested in waste recycling and prevention are being invited to a Regional information event this month.

The 'Envisioning Resource Efficiency' event takes place in the Horse & Jockey Hotel in Co Tipperary on Thursday 14 November and is being hosted by the Southern Region Waste Management Office through its remit as a project partner in the European-wide 'Regions 4 Recycling' (R4R) project.

The Regional Waste Management Office, which develops and coordinates waste activities and policy throughout the Region, says the event will feature presentations from a range of waste experts, a questions and answers session, information stands and an interim update on the R4R project.

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Under the three-year Interreg IVC European Regional Development funded R4R project, local authorities in Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Carlow have joined participating authorities in 12 other European regions in making performance comparisons and exchange of good practices in order to improve their respective recycling performances.

According to Philippa King, Regional Co-ordinator for the Southern Waste Region: "European municipalities are subject to common EU waste management regulations but have taken different approaches to reach the recycling targets. Differences between the recycling performances are evident, ranging from less than 10% to more than 70% from one region to another.

"Some of the differences can be accounted for by different data compilation practices between regions. Interim results collated by participating R4R project partners show that the Southern Region of Ireland is one of the leading regions in Europe in terms of Recycling and Low waste generation and Prevention."

(CD/JP)