Exploring illegal dumping in Mayo

A trio of college students - Alanna Cunnane, Kathleen Keane and Emma Kilcawley Hemini - take a deep dive examination into the act of illegal dumping in County Mayo, consulting concerned groups and representatives along the way for their expertise. This article, by Alanna Cunnane, is part one of a three-part series

Illegal dumping has long since been an issue local community groups and county councils have tackled with in an effort to take pride in their surrounding area and showcase it in its very best form to those who visit.

With Covid-19 putting a halt to tourism in Ireland and all over the world, restrictions being imposed, and the masses compelled to stay at home, has littering seen a fall off during the pandemic or has the curve failed to be flattened in this sector too?

Westport Councillor Peter Flynn believes bottle banks have become hotspots for illegal dumping during the coronavirus time period and subsequent lockdowns.

“If someone said to me what was the single biggest issue that was encountered during that time it would be the fact that people are just leaving their bottles beside the bottle banks,” he says.

“There’s been a huge increase in the amount of rubbish there because of the number of people drinking at home rather than drinking in bars. The bottle banks aren’t able to cope with the volume that is being disposed.”

Councillor Flynn also accredits the same dilemma to that of people leaving rubbish beside public bins and recycling centres as opposed to inside those assigned areas or their own private waste disposal services.

“People seem to feel that’s okay because they’re leaving it beside a bin but of course you’ve birds or animals coming along afterwards and ripping it apart and then the rubbish just goes everywhere,” he says.

Despite the public feeling their civic duty is fulfilled by putting their waste close to where their waste would be rightfully disposed, Flynn affirms that this manoeuvre ‘is not okay, to put it mildly’.

“It seems to alleviate any issue they have on their conscious,” he says.

“It’s pure and utter ignorance because ultimately someone has to pick them up afterwards and I suppose when you are dealing with the whole Covid thing as well it makes it twice as ignorant.”

While the councillor says the matter of illegal dumping in general has ‘improved no end compared to ten or fifteen years ago’, when it was more prevalent, he also acknowledges that the introduction of new technological measures as well as additional regulations instituted in October of last year have made a significant positive impact.

These controls are referred to as the Waste Management (Segregation, Storage and Presentation of Household and Commercial Waste) Bye Laws and set out that households and businesses must adhere to using an approved local waste collector or utilise waste facilities available to them and they may be asked for proof of doing so upon inspection by Mayo County Council.

It also sanctions that rubbish must be separated into its relevant category, electrical items cannot be discarded in a wheelie bin and that these bins should not be presented on a roadway or kerbside with the exception of the day before collection.

Councillor Flynn was part of the council environmental strategic policy committee which helped pass such measures and said: “It was based on a national framework so you should see very similar regulations coming into every county, which is good. At least now it means as I say that everyone has to demonstrate that they have appropriate ways of dealing with their refuse.”

Councillor Flynn maintains that the way forward is to publicise the names of those who commit such acts and place heavy fines upon offenders.

“It’s the fear of being caught which is the deterrent. For me, I think we should really be naming and shaming people publicly if they are found to be guilty because there’s no excuse for it.

“Between private collectors and recycling centres there is no reason why anybody should be dumping their refuse anywhere other than authorised locations.”

This legislation works in tandem with groups such as Tidy Towns, Clean Your Beaches and other environmental goodwill agencies to keep towns all over Mayo litter-free and attractive to inhabitants and sightseers alike.

As Flynn stated: “Regulations will only take you so far but it’s ultimately down to people’s behaviours to do the right thing and to have pride in your town, your village or your county.”

He encourages people to take ‘personal responsibility and get involved in some community groups to help clean up your area’ as he thinks ‘there is nothing greater in terms of instilling that kind of civic pride within yourself’.

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers keep such organisations alive and the landscape as natural as possible. One such volunteer is county council vice-chairman Christy Hyland, who helps out with the Tidy Towns committee in his local area.

Having the unique vantage point of being a part of both the council and the Tidy Towns, Councillor Hyland accounts that the organisation ‘is an important aspect of the whole tourism product’ and that ‘the tidiness of the town is affecting tourism in a positive way, when people hear how clean it is and that it’s an award-winning town they decide to come visit’.

While the aforementioned laws were implemented by the council in October, Councillor Hyland says the CCTV action was a movement he personally drove himself as he felt passionate about the topic and didn’t want litter to disrupt the local heritage of Mayo.

“The CCTV was a project I drove personally myself and it deters people from throwing litter around on the street because they can be seen on the footage. The local council would be working with the Tidy Towns committee on an ongoing basis and have done all the time over the years.”

The council have also put in place drone surveillance which monitors and identifies locations where dumping is rife and are committed to expelling such disposal of waste in an illegal manner.

Councillor Hyland urges the public to refrain from ‘hesitating to report matters to the local council as it will be treated in a confidential way’.