Meath County Council receiving more than 1,400 complaints about dumping annually

Meath County Council gets more than 1,400 complaints of littering and illegal dumping each year, according to a report delivered to an independent councillor.
Almost €6 million was spent remediating one of the biggest cases – the Tymoole landfill site near Rathfeigh – although this was funded by the Government. 
The staggering figure comes amidst plans for a major public meeting on illegal dumping, in the wake of reports that this may have been a trigger for the recent wildfires in Kildalkey.
The meeting, which is being organised by Green Party spokesperson on Health and local GP, Dr Seamus McMenamin will take place Wednesday 25th July at 7pm in the Newgrange Hotel Navan.
Cllr Sharon Keogan had asked the Council for details of the amount spent on waste removal and remediation due to illegal dumping of household waste for the years 2015, 2016 and last year. She also sought details of the Council income from recycling centre admission charges.
The Council said that most cases are dealt with under the Litter Management legislation but a large number are in respect of the illegal dumping of household or other waste which, due to the nature and volumes of materials involved, are dealt with under the Waste Management Acts. A Council contract is in place with a waste collection company to have the illegally dumped waste removed from public places to an authorised facility following detailed investigation of the material for evidence in enforcement proceedings. A number of sites with large volumes of illegally dumped waste are now the subject of investigation and proceedings.  
Meanwhile, Dr Séamus McMenamin said; “I have been receiving reports over the past few years about illegal dumping both on a domestic and industrial scale. I have seen evidence of this myself and as well as the risk of fires during unusually hot weather which we have at present it poses a real risk to public health.”
“The meeting is aimed to unite various groups who deal with this issue on a local basis and is open to all groups and all political parties.
“It is only by joining together that we will be able to do something about this. Groups such as Tidy Towns put so much effort into making our public spaces clean and we should support them as much as we can. There are difficulties with enforcement and the issuing of waste licences which will need to be addressed.”
Meath County Council told Cllr Keogan that in the vast majority of cases little or no site remediation is involved after the household or other waste is removed. However, in cases where large volumes of mixed waste are dumped on privately-owned lands, remediation comes into play and the full provisions of the waste management legislation are used in legal action against landowners or people known to have dumped waste illegally. However, these cases can run over many years because of the high level of proof involved.
Landfill operation and after care cost €1,032,075 last year (€276,711 in 2016 and €914,386 in 2015). Litter management cost €509,368 last year (€423,556 in 2016, €433,863 in 2015). The provision of waste to collection services cost €136,734 last year (€157,467 in 2016, €154,838 in 2015). Recovery and recycling facilities operations cost €522,406 last year (€613,991 in 2016, €575,135 in 2015). Street cleaning last year cost €1,681,423 last year (€1,413,402 in 2016, €1,669,284 in 2015).
Monitoring and enforcement cost €8,122,181 in 2017 (€10,556,999 in 2016, €6,102, 929 in 2015). Gate receipts from the civic amenity sites at Navan, Kells and Trim fell to €137,201 last year from €153,176 in 2016 and €151,463 in 2015. The cost of running the sites was €386k last year, €459k in 2016 and €424,299 in 2015.
A spokesperson for Meath County Council said in recent years there had been a significant increase in the extent of illegal dumping and littering in high amenity areas across the County including forests, bogs and dunes and much of this arises from the use of social media by unauthorised waste collectors advertising waste collection services at knockdown prices and with the materials collected (much of which is recyclable) being dumped under the cover of darkness.

 "The environment department in Meath County Council  have recently initiated a major social media campaign which seeks to discourage members of the public from giving their household waste to such operators and to encourage members of the public to report and give evidence in respect of such practices.

 "The forest and bog areas around Frayne Athboy, Kildakey and Coolronan Ballivor, have been subjected to such dumping and where there are often multiple access points which facilitate easy access for dumpers. Some of the  lands concerned are in the ownership of Coillte and discussions have been ongoing for some time with them  in terms of having areas cleaned up and where possible to put in place measures to prevent easy access to prevent re-occurrences ."

 
She said the Council was working with community groups and state agencies such as Coilte under the  Anti Dumping Initiative Scheme and availing of funding from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in having areas which are subject to continuous dumping cleaned up and steps taken, including the use of technology , to deter further reoccurrences.

A funding provision has been made for tackling black spots in Frayne & Coolronan bogs has been made for this year – a number of locations within Girley bog were cleaned up in 2017 under this scheme.