Calls for Spring clean rubbish collection to help local communities
A councillor has called on Cork County Council to provide a facility to collect rubbish from communities as they carry out an environmental spring clean.
Cllr Deirdre O’Brien made the call during this week’s Fermoy Municipal District meeting in which she spoke of many local areas where locals were picking up rubbish in public places.
She said that there could be a designated day that council collections could be made in conjunction with Spring Clean, a Government-backed initiative.
“Communities want to take responsibility for the environment and are actively conducting clean-ups in their own local areas.
“I wholly credit these communities or any individual who takes the initiative to go out to litter pick and I believe we want to encourage them to do so. I myself have done so on many occasions and this is where I have seen personally, the problem that arises of disposing of the multiple bags collected.
“To ask us to dispose in in our own wheelie bins is not an option as we have two wheelie bins, but only waste is applicable and collected every two weeks just doesn’t add up. I have communities with 30 bags.”
‘WE HAVE TO SUPPORT THEM’
Going on to state that in all other municipal districts, there is access to Civic Amenity sites ‘but we don’t have one in the Fermoy area so we need to be looking at other options of disposing this rubbish’.
“Communities are doing Cork County Council a favour by collecting this rubbish, all they have to do is arrange a time and place and have it collected.
“It will in the long run, save the the litter warden coming out to investigate fly tipping on our countrysides and gives communities a sense of respect for their village or town,” she went on.
“We have to support them here today. We have to look at a means of giving them that support and encouragement by working with them. We give grants for frills like seats, pots, plants etc., put the funding into encouraging clean ups,” she said.
Cllr O’Flynn supported the proposal and asked the Council to declare a once a year event.
Cllr Kay Dawson raised the issue of lockdown safety and said the Council must be careful not to promote large gatherings. She said that when the restrictions were lifted would be the time to examine the proposal.
Cllr William O’Leary said that local people were going out with black bags to pick up rubbish from people out walking.
“People are disgusted with what is going on in our countryside. As soon as possible, when restrictions are lifted, we should liaise with community groups and collect the black bags. It would show we are with them,” he said.
Cllr Noel McCarthy supported the motion and said it had been ‘very disheartening’ for people.
Cllr Frank Roche also supported the motion and said that the public were saving the Council a lot of money by picking up the rubbish.
Pauline Moriarty, Municipal District Officer said that there was no budget in the Fermoy MD to do such a move but said that she would raise it with Cork County Council who, she believed, would support the move.