Needles, furnitureandclothing amonglatestdumpedmaterial
SITUATION IN SOUTH WICKLOW IS GETTING ‘WORSE AND WORSE’
Syringes and old broken furntiture were among the latest items dumped around the Garden County as a local Councillor admitted the situation is getting ‘worse and worse’.
In recent days there have been incidents of dumping at North Quay in Arklow, Glenart Woods and at Tinahely Recycling Centre.
Wicklow County Council litter warden Corey Bateman had the task of sorting through a large amount of material including old broken furniture, clothes and books discarded on North Quay on Thursday.
Ms Bateman confirmed that evidence has been found and that Wicklow Council has launched an investigation into the matter.
According to Cllr Pat Fitzgerald, cases such as this are becoming all too common in County Wicklow.
‘I have seen the situation getting worse and worse, particularly in the past few years. Regarding this particular case I understand that the council be in contact with a person. In some cases it looks like rogue collectors are involved and I would appeal to anyone having waste removed to verify if the collector has a valid permit. The owner of the waste will be the one prosecuted if their information is found in the load,’ he said.
There was also grave concern raised on Sunday after a vast number of used and unused needles were found along a popular walking route in Glenart Woods.
The items were discovered by a member of the public out walking, and one of the needles had been stuck into a tree.
‘ This is very worrying. This is a popular route and someone could have easily stepped on these used needles,’ Cllr Fitzgerald said.
It is understood that the find was reported to the gardaí and HSE and attempts are being made to ascertain where they came from. Other items such as alcohol cans and fizzy drink bottles were also found nearby.
The surrounding areas also had their share of dumping disasters in recent days too.
Tinahely Recycling Centre was targeted by a person who drove into the yard and left a bag of waste hidden down behind the aluminium cans area.
Tina Christiansen of Tinahely Community Projects which runs the centre appealed to the public to verify what can and cannot be accepted at the centre if they are unclear.
‘ This incident has been reported to the Gardaí. The man in question drove in and opened his boot and went over the the WEEE area where used white goods are deposited and had a good look around. We think that he had planned on taking anything that caught his eye. Many people do not realise that it is against the law to take anything that has been deposited into the WEEE container,’ she said.
Meanwhile, in Dunlavin, west Wicklow, the County Council has resorted to sending enforce- ment officers out to the monthly free recycling collection in a bid to reduce the level of contamination in loads. A letter circulated to the local community outlined that more and more frequently, people are putting all sorts of non-recyclable waste including nappies and food waste into the recycling collection.
A Wicklow Council Council spokesperson said that in order to retain this free service which serves, Hollywood, Dunlavin and Blessington, the public will have to adhere to the rules.
It is understood that people have been dumping bags of waste at the collection point before and after the recycling truck arrives.
The letter outlined that enforcement officers will now be issuing fines to those who information is found inside any of these dumped bags.