‘Momumental stuff going on with dumping’, meeting told
THERE was “monumental stuff” going on as regards illegal dumping and a bin could not be provided unless there was CCTV covering it, a SligoDrumcliffe Municipal District meeting was told.
The comments were made during discussion of two motions dealing with litter bins and in particularly solar-powered compacting bins. Councillor Tom Fox proposd that council would provide solar compacting bins at Mullaghmore Head, Streedagh Beach, Lissadell, and Rosses Point, as well as additional seating and benches.
Cllr Fox said that as the economy opened up there were going to be a lot more people about and using the outdoors and he said “it would be great if we could have these facilities provided”.
Acting director of services Emer Concannon said that the council had identified suitable locations for additional seating and benches at Rosses Point and would progress with the purchase and placement of these in the coming weeks.
She said that there were no suitable locations for seating or benches at Mullaghmore Head, Streedagh or Lissadell (which were third party lands). However, she said that council would assess Mullaghmore village to determine if there were any suitable locations.
In relation to bins, she said that the council would be installing additional bins in the vicinity of the beach car park in Rosses Point.
But she said that as there are currently no bins at Mullaghmore Head, Streedagh beach or Lissadell there were no plans to install any new bins at these locations.
She said that if bins were provided in some places it could attract illegal dumping. In relation to the compacting bins, Ms Concannon said that these cost up to €5,000 each and they were looking at potential sites for the three bins for which they had secured funding. Councillor Thomas Walsh asked if “in anticipation of a busy domestic tourism season” if the council intended making application to the scheme for smart solar compacting bins and what the council intends to do in 2021 as part of the anti-dumping initiative.
He also asked if the council has mapped the bin infrastructure in Sligo in light of the recent funding announcement of €5m for litter infrastructure.
Acting director of services Emer Concannon told him that they were awaiting further information and details of the €5m anti-littering infrastructure funding and once this information was available they would be in a position to determine what works and funding would be sought by the council. She said that the council had secured funding under the 2021 anti-dumping initiative for the following projects: bulky items collection/amnesty, bulky items that are recyclable/reusable, mattress amnesty, bike for Africa, solar powered compacking bins (3), cleaning up of various litter blackspots, signage and the purchase of a drone. Cllr Walsh said that it was his understanding that the department was looking at mapping the bins in every local authority area.
He said that it was important that with a return to a level of normality and a greater focus on outdoor dining that the council was prepared for that. Cllr Walsh said that he had been contacted on the week before last about there being no bin in Mullaghmore and he said that there were going to be hundreds of people about. He felt that they had to have some some type of bins infrastrucuture, albeit limited, and the solar powered compacting bins might help.
He said that he was aware though of the problem with bins in Rosses Point and that bins were taken out of the Main Street in Collooney at the request of the Tidy Towns committee because of the way they were being abused.
Cllr Walsh felt that there should be bins provided by the likes of takeways with the onus on them to maintain them. He said it was also important that when they were making application for this scheme that there would be a fair split between rural and urban.
Cllr Thomas Healy said that there was a need for bins but the problem was who was going to clean up the rubbish around them.
“It is not always the chipper that causes the problem, it is people coming in with their black bags.
“If you put in extra bins, you need to have the manpower to empty them,” he said.
Acting chief executive Tom Kilfeather said it was not a question of putting out extra bins because, he said, there were people thanking them for taking them out of locations. He said that they had only limited funding for emptying bins.
Mr Kilfeather said they knew that this was going to be “an exceptional difficult year” in a lot of areas because of the number of people that were going to be around.
He said that one of the proposals that they had was to have amenity wardens in place and a big part of their remit would be keeping the place clean. Mr Kilfeather said that the solution to keeping places clean wasn’t always more bins or bigger bins. “It is more complicated than that”, he said.
Cllr Donal Gilroy said that he was aware that a dog poo bin had been installed in Mullaghmore a while back but 30 bags of domestic refuse were piled up against it and it had to be removed within weeks.
“It is nearly at a stage that you cannot put in a bin unless you have it covered by CCTV and the same with the bottle banks,” he said.
He said he did not have the answer to it and he didn’t think anybody had the answer.
“If they don’t do it there they put it into their car and they drive up the first hideaway scenic spot or a forest and they fling it out the window. He added: “There’s just monumental stuff going on with rubbish and dumping” Referring to the solar powered compacting bins, he said: “If you stick anything on the foopath anywhere and it doesn’t have CCTV on it I’d be afraid what would be done to it, it could be set on fire.”
Cllr Gilroy said that he was aware of a compacting bin at a private premises in Ballindine and “it seems to be permanently full and overflowing”. Cllr Healy said that it was important to get the message out as to what can and can’t be done in relation to bins.