UPLANDS BLIGHTED ONCE AGAIN BY ILLEGAL DUMPING

THE 2017 PURE Mile Competition is in full clean-up mode right now with over 130 miles of road being adopted by a variety of groups and communities.

A recent litter pick by the Glencree Walking Group in the beautiful scenic Wicklow/Dublin uplands, all the way from Kilakee Car Park in South Dublin to the Sally Gap Cross Roads in Wicklow, resulted in the removal of over 150 bags of rubbish.

The joint efforts of The PURE Project and Glencree Walking Group resulted in the removal of over three tonnes of illegal dumping on the day. The PURE truck concentrated on removing the larger dumped rubbish, which included mattresses, chairs, and other household waste, while the group walked the 10 miles of scenic upland road filling over 150 bags of litter from the road verges.

‘ The Wicklow/Dublin Uplands is a unique landscape and environment attracting thousands of visitors annually. Although PURE remove tonnes of illegal dumping from this beautiful scenic landscape, we only have one truck and one driver, so we cannot remove the unsightly small scale litter from the area,’ said PURE Project Manager Ian Davis. Joe McNamara of Glencree Walking Group said that the walkers are appalled by the amount of litter dumped in the area, which is mainly thrown out of cars’.

PURE are currently looking for groups, communities, individuals, schools, walking groups, cycling groups, scouts, businesses, EVERYONE, to get involved in the PURE Mile by adopting an upland area and doing a litter pick to ‘CleanUp The Uplands’. All groups who enter will be included in the ‘Clean-Up The Uplands’ Award category and are in with a chance of winning €500.

PURE supply all groups with bags, litter pickers and gloves, and they will also collect all of rubbish gathered by groups.

All groups who enter the competition are invited to the PURE Mile Awards Night, and all will receive a Certificate of Participation, a selection of Native Irish Trees, and all will feature in the PURE Mile Calendar.

Anyone interested in the 2017 PURE Mile competition can request an application form and information pack by emailing info@pureproject. ie or it can be downloaded from www.pureproject.ie/what-we-do/the-pure-mile/. They can also write to; PURE Project, Wicklow Mountains, National Park, Kilafin, Laragh, Bray, Co. Wicklow and they will post out all the information or request an application form and information pack by phoning PURE on 0404 45547.