Piles of soiled items left at beauty spots by ‘adult nappy guy’

Alocal authority is on the hunt for an illegal dumper dubbed “the adult nappy guy” who has been responsible for leaving soiled nappies at scenic sites.

Westmeath County Council has been battling dumping on a weekly basis, with one individual thought responsible for two “particularly bad” incidents involving large quantities of soiled nappies.

The council said they had been forced to sift the waste by hand to see if there was anything that would help identify the perpetrator, a task they described as “deeply unpleasant” as well as being a “health risk” for staff involved.

Internal emails detail how the local authority was determined to track down “adult nappy guy” after a second dumping incident during January.

“I was at Lough Sheelin... doing a wetland bird survey and sorry to have to report I spotted some recent dumping on council property at Sailor’s Garden, mostly soiled nappies,” a National Parks and Wildlife Service official wrote on January 16.

“My commiseration to the persons who have to clean that up.”

It emerged then a similar incident had also been reported near scenic Lough Owel in the county early this year with “large-scale dumping” of dirty nappies.

“It looks like the adult nappy guy may have struck again in the north of the county. Could you follow up… and see if there is anything we could use,” one official in an email said.

“[Our colleague] is looking at how we could get a bit of social media interest in helping find the culprit(s) or at least letting them know we are vigilant.”

Another message said staff hoped that the incident was not a “harbinger” of what was to come this year.

“The poor community warden is going to have to sift through that lot for [identification material],” the internal email said.

Officials from the county council also detailed how the dumping had taken place at a picturesque location right beside facilities that are used by locals and visitors to the region.

“It is very scenic with views across into Cavan and back into Mullaghmeen Forest in Westmeath,” a community climate action officer told colleagues.

“The items are dumped 10 yards from a picnic table, and right on the shoreline of the lake. They are contaminating both the wildlife in the area and the fisheries.

“Council staff had to sift through the rubbish by hand and will have to remove it by hand, causing risks to health.”

Westmeath County Council said the dumping at Lough Sheelin had been very damaging and at a location that attracted a lot of visitors because it was so rich in biodiversity and wildlife.

They said it had been a “costly clean-up” operation that diverted funding from other essential services as well as being disgusting and a health hazard for the staff forced to carry out the clean-up work.

“Unfortunately, Westmeath County Council’s environment section receives reports about illegal dumping incidents on an almost weekly basis,” a council spokesperson said.

“To combat the ongoing issue of illegal dumping, [our environment] staff continue to generate awareness around the damaging impacts of illegal dumping including the unlawful disposal of waste by unlicensed waste collectors.”