Refuse hoarding and illegal dumping growing concern

A co-ordinated multi agency approach is now being put into action against this illegal dumping.

Mattresses and couches dumped over walls, in rivers, and along boreens. Beautyspots, lough shores and forests, sullied by waste and the scorched remains of camp fires. Dead animals dumped. Residents hoarding waste in backyards creating foetid heaps and luring rats. The struggle to quell the onslaught of illegal dumping is a daily one. In this disposable age it seems no place is safe from these unscrupulous litter louts.

Arguably the most outrageous development in recent years is the emergence of bogus waste collectors in unmarked vehicles. They advertise their “service” on social media only to offload the heaving bin liners at lonely spots.

Cavan County Council staff inevitably undertake the mammoth clean up when publicly owned sites fall prey to fly tippers. A prompt response is required as small incidents can rapidly flare up into larger problems, as the sight of waste attracts often more illegal dumping. Council staff have vowed to redouble their pursuit of illegal operators alongside other relevant State authorities.

It’s not only those in vans and lorries making the illegal door-to-door collections who are in the wrong.

“Not alone will we pursue the illegal waste collector but we will also pursue the person who gave their waste to the collector before the court as well,” warns Sean Guider.

“Householders would say that they are not aware that it is not an offence to give your waste to an illegal waste collector. And so they proceed to do it and then wonder why they get litter fines in the post or get prosecuted. It is actually an offence,” he advises.

Sean, the senior executive waste enforcement officer with Cavan County Council, has sound advice for homeowners.

“We would stress that under no circumstances should people give their waste to an illegal waste collection service, because the penalties can be quite severe for any case of illegal dumping and the maximum fine in court is €5,000 and/or 12 months in prison,” warns Sean.

While illegal dumpers have ratcheted up their profits through advertising on social media, the council has responded with more sophisticated methods to pursue them. “We currently have a few cases before the courts relating to illegal dumping to varying degrees in various parts of County Cavan. We have used hidden cameras to detect people and we have been successful in the past with prosecutions.”

Such success has inspired confidence in the local authority to employ hidden cameras more frequently.

Sean says the perception that money can be saved by avoiding legitimate service providers is often false. “We found through interviewing people, and in the course of investigations and subsequent prosecutions, that in actual fact they had paid a lot more to the illegal waste collector than it would have cost them to go to the local civil amenity facility or engaging an authorised waste collector.”

A co-ordinated multi agency approach is now being put into action against this illegal activity.

“We work with our colleagues in An Garda Síochána, the Department of Social Welfare Special Investigations Unit to take down these illegal operators and target them from multiple angles. It is a black market economy too and there could be social welfare fraud involved as well,” he said.

People also have obligations to manage their household waste appropriately under the ‘waste management’ bye-laws introduced late last year.

“They can either engage the services of an authorised collector – the wheelie bin service for example, or they can bring their waste directly to a civic amenity facility. There are three in the county – Cavan Town, Bailieborough and Ballyconnell. They also have an obligation to retain waste disposal receipts. This is very important as proof of proper waste disposal. If you can’t account for your waste, you could be liable to a fixed penalty notice of €75.”

Back yard burning of household waste has reportedly increased during the Covid-19 pandemic, and that can cause significant pollution problems.

“It can be a small incident where people use a steel barrel to burn waste or it could be a stockpile of waste that they then set alight. It could be tyres, oils, fuel filters and hazardous waste.”

On the subject of hazardous waste, Sean revealed that they have increasingly noticed asbestos sheets being dumped.

“If you have asbestos sheeting on a roof or a place that your are renovating, you should seek proper advice and get registered specialist contractors in to deal with it appropriately. Asbestos has its own public health problems.”

A frequent problem faced by the council is hoarding of household waste. Essentially, instead of going to a civic amenity with waste, some people are stockpiling bags of waste at the rear of their property.

“Then the waste in the bags start to degrade and attract vermin, flies and cause odour nuisance and becomes a major problem – it is more difficult to dispose of it at that stage. People have developed this habit and it is happening all over the county, all because they don’t do the simple thing and regularly dispose of their waste in the proper way.

“We want to make a special appeal to people to stop this activity, because it is a public and environmental threat,” he said.

When confronted about the problem, those responsible often use money or time as excuses.

“There are people with exceptional circumstances and we recognise that and we will try and work with them to solve those issues. Our approach has always be to raise awareness, advisory and then we escalate it up to the enforcement stage.

“It is not that we want to be bringing people to court at every opportunity – we give them a chance to rectify matters.

“It is only when they refuse to engage with us - that we have no option but to bring them to court. If the council has to move waste, you have to remember that, at the end of the day, it is the taxpayer who is paying for that,” said Sean.

There are no less than 31 ‘Bring Centres’ spanning the county, which are constantly maintained, at significant cost to the council. Sadly this free service is often abused.

“We are appealing to people not to deposit waste illegally at the Bring Centres, whether that is cardboard boxes, bags or any other stuff that can’t be recycled. They could face a litter fine of up to €150,” warns Sean. “We are also working to provide upgraded fixed camera systems at these sites, because of abuse. Ultimately, if there is ongoing abuse, we will have to review the centre’s existence at that location.”

The Anglo-Celt visited an area in Cavan Town in close proximity to the Cavan River and saw first hand how mattresses, arm chairs and bags of waste had been thrown over a wall and let fall some 40 feet down beside the river. Sean observes that it will be a particularly challenging operation to remove that rubbish.

If the public report illegal dumping, that complaint is likely to come to either Marie Morgan or Darren Duffy, the two community wardens on the front line of the fight against illegal dumping.

Marie Morgan brought the Celt to a location adjacent to a quiet side road, just a stone’s throw from the scenic Annagh lake where varying types of waste had been tipped down an incline and also on the verge of the road.

“A large amount of building waste has been dumped here, together with tyres, pallets and four mattresses,” sighs Marie. To dump much of the building waste materials some kind of tipper must have been used, observes the warden.

“Most of what you see dumped here today can be recycled. We had a mattress collection a short time ago and it was €5 to dispose of many mattresses and two weeks ago we had a bulk furniture collection and that cost €5 per load.

“We have bogus bin men going around undertaking to take away people’s rubbish – it can then end up in places like this,” says Marie.

Instead of charging €5 per bag, they charge €2 per bag and then proceed to dump it illegally.

Marie revealed that these bogus bin/waste removal men are advertising on social media under the guise of clean-up services and old furniture removals.

Some of them are advertising street cleaning, combined with removing all your waste. Following the earlier COVID-19 induced lock down, people are back out now moving freely and the illegal dumping has risen again.

The Celt was also made aware of an incident recently where campers abandoned cheap tents, sleeping bags, clothing, food waste, alcohol bottles and other rubbish on Church Island. Anglers from Lough Sheelin Trout Protection Association come across such grim sights all too frequently.

Eamonn Ross says the association would like to see this “indiscriminate dumping of rubbish” highlighted, and he appealed for everyone to routine report incidents to the local authority.