Kerry-based Pollution and Construction Solutions (PACS), trading as The Japanese Knotweed Company, has appealed to An Bord Pleanála after Mayo County Council refused planning for a weed-infested soil disposal site in a disused quarry near Ballyhaunis.

The council cited the potential environmental impact on the nearby river Dalgan, which is connected to the Lough Corrib special protection area.

It noted the proposed methods to haul 24,000t/year of infested soil and remove visible knotweed fragments for incineration in Dublin before in-filling the quarry with decontaminated soil have not been tested on this scale anywhere else. Local residents lodged objections to the application, including the owner of a forest providing screening for the facility, who said the trees may be harvested at any time. Neighbours who reported sand blowing on to their property when the quarry was active feared the same would happen with the concrete-busting weed.

In its appeal, PACS acknowledged it was developing a new approach, but said it resulted from four years of research and allowed reduced herbicide use to tackle the invasive species.

The company produced a letter from the National Parks and Wildlife Service which wrote that it was “very impressed” with the proposal and described its technology as “innovative and environmentally sustainable”, making the project “an important resource in the west of Ireland”.

PACS also offered to deploy a hawk kite to scare away any birds that may scatter knotweed fragments from the site.

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