Illegal dumping is getting worse in North Tipp

AFTER a period of improvement, illegal waste dumping and fly tipping is getting worse in North Tipp again, Councillors told the January meeting of Nenagh Municipal District.
Cllr Seamus Morris raised the issue. "I feel," he stated, "that the dumping of rubbish has been getting worse over the last six months or so, after a period of improvement in people's habits. I am often horrified by what I see when I am driving around in my capacity as a postman."
The councillor praised the staff of the Council's environment section for their work in dealing with this problem. "It's not a simple job chasing after the offenders. I recently saw one of these offenders in action. He became highly abusive when confronted about his wrongdoing. And it's not a nice job picking up the waste, which sometimes is even toxic and harmful.
"It really is a shockingly offensive thing to do, to dump your rubbish on someone else's land. As I say, some of this material can be toxic and could kill cattle if they were to eat it."
Cllr Morris added that the way to tackle the problem is to use a carrot and stick approach. "In general we want to work with people and we don't want to go to court if we can possibly avoid it. Going to court entails a lot of work, and it's expensive."
Cllr Fiona Bonfield said a building contractor recently dumped building waste in Newport River.
"There is a lot of people illegally dumping waste or carelessly flytipping the roadsides at the moment," Cllr Morris continued. "I am appealing to them to cease this anti-social behaviour. There are acceptable ways of disposing of your rubbish and you will have to pay little or nothing for them."
Cllr Ger Darcy agreed with Cllr Morris' comments. He praised the Litter Warden for responding so quickly to dumping problems. He pointed out that people can bring their rubbish to the excellent recycling facility in Nenagh.
Cllr John Carroll said the fine for fly tipping is €150. For illegal dumping of waste it's €5,000. "I think the fine for fly tipping is too small," he commented. "It should be quadrupled. And I think culprits should pay the legal costs which could be as much as €1,500."
A member of the Council's environment section told the meeting that the number of people using recycling centres in Ireland is in fact increasing. "A lot of the stuff which people are illegally dumping can be disposed of in recycling centres free of charge."
Cllr Michael O'Meara told the meeting that on a number of occasions a distribution company was responsible for thousands of leaflets being strewn along the roadside of the R438 between Cloghan and Borrisokane. "On four or five occasions last year I saw these leaflets strewn along the road in the Walshpark Cross area. The leaflets are advertising the services of an electronics company and a charity organisation, but for some reason the distribution company is flytipping them, not putting them through the letter boxes, in the Walshpark area."