£500 reward to find culprit behind milk dumping on coast
A CASH reward has been offered by a Belfast dairy processor to catch a serial fly-tipper dumping milk on the Co Antrim coastline.
For the past three years someone has been dumping full packs of milk along the coast between Islandmagee and Glenarm leaving plastic, cardboard and milk pollution on the beaches and other areas.
On Saturday a walker taking his daily exercise found the latest haul between Ballygally and Glenarm.
The walker is a member of the Larne Renovation Generation that regularly carried out litter picks in the area.
The group cannot currently carry out any volunteering due to the coronavirus restrictions but member Angeline King said the walker reported the fly-tipping.
Angeline said: “We have a core of six people that normally go out lifting litter and helping clear up Larne.
“We have 2,000 members on our Facebook page and some of them also volunteer with us during litter picks from time to time.
“One of our committee members found the dumped milk while out walking on Saturday. The milk seemed to be in two-litre containers and had a best before date of March 13.
“It was obviously dumped there and was in its original cardboard packaging which indicates it could be unsold stock from a retail outlet.”
The milk cartons that were found are originally from Farmview Dairies based in Castlereagh in Belfast.
According to Angeline this is not the first time milk has been dumped in the area.
“Our social media group was established to focus on the more positive aspects of Larne and the local area,” she said.
“But we felt this was such an important issue as plastic pollution is a serious concern.
“However, this is not the first time we have found milk dumped as this strange behaviour has been highlighted a number of times over the past three years.
“Similar packages of unopened milk has been discovered several times along the coastline from as far away as Islandmagee to Glenarm and we really need to find out who is doing this and why.
“We have reported this particular incident to the local council authorities who said they will come and clean it up but it shouldn’t be happening at all.
“Surely the dairy firm can trace the packages from the bar codes on the cartons to help find out who is responsible,” she added.
Meanwhile the dairy business that first supplied the milk confirmed it is well aware of the incidences and have issued a £500 reward to find who is responsible.
Farmview Dairies said: “We agree that this is a disgrace and have been trying to put a stop to this. We deliver milk all over Northern Ireland, and to many different suppliers who then distribute our milk on, making tracing it much harder.
“We have been in talks with the council who have said they will carry out patrols along the shore.
“We are also offering a £500 cash reward to anyone with information which leads to us or the council catching the culprit.
“Someone must know something so please help us put a stop to this.”