Couches, mattresses and fridges and 200 electric fence batteries were among the items found dumped on rural roads around north Waterford, last weekend.

Sixty volunteers, including farmers, took to the roads to pick up the rubbish. James Norris, who owns a plant hire business in Rathgormack and took part in the clean-up, told the Irish Farmers Journal there was all sorts of rubbish found: “Ovens, fridges, toilets, toasters, mattresses, couches – you name it, we found it.

“At one spot we filled nine bags of rubbish in the space of 30 metres. A lot of the rubbish is bottles and takeaway bags just thrown out car windows.

“We had a couple of trailer loads along one road in particular which has forestry. I’d say the county council was shocked by the amount of rubbish. They had to get a digger out to load some of it.”

Dairy farmer and county councillor Seanie Power, who took part in the clean-up, said Waterford city and county council provided pickers, gloves, bags and more to help with the clean-up.

He complimented all the clean-up volunteers: “Hopefully this clean-up will become an annual thing. Fly tipping is a massive problem. People throwing bottles out windows is disgraceful. Kids need to be educated on littering.”

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Fly-tipping: ‘Ovens, fridges, couches – you name it, we found it’

The scourge of fly tipping was highlighted in Waterford last weekend, when 60 volunteers took to rural roads around Rathgormack and surrounding areas to clear up rubbish.