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Meath County Council director of environment and water services Larry Whelan suspects a lot of illegal dumping taking place in rural Meath is by ‘man in a van’ type operators, he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“These people go around the towns lifting household waste for a small fee and then drive to a quiet location for disposal. Fundamentally, they are operating without the necessary dumping licence, which results in waste turning up in the countryside.
“We noted a surge in dumping incidences during the initial lockdown. People were clearing out their houses and garages, with the man in a van operators employed to dispose of the rubbish for attractive low prices.”
Clean-up cost
Meath County Council said forests, bogs, council and farm land have been affected by a spate of illegal dumping incidences in recent months.
“The cost of cleaning up this waste is considerable. Council and landowners have had to spend a lot of money this year tackling the issue.
“Landowners are required to clean up the rubbish that is dumped on their land. We are working to identify the culprits responsible to discourage similar incidents in future.”
Funding
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications confirmed on Tuesday that funding of over €2.9m has been granted to 304 projects as part of the Anti-Dumping initiative in 2020.
Anti-Dumping works in partnership with local authorities and community organisations in identifying high risk areas, developing appropriate enforcement responses and carrying out clean-up operations.
Co-ordinated through the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities the initiative has received €6.3m in funding and supported over 700 projects across 31 local authorities since 2017.
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