Illegal dumpers brought to task

Bulging black bags of household waste strewn across country roadsides is a familiar sight the length and breadth of Ireland as the authorities continue to pursue illegal dumpers.

Millions of euros of taxpayers’ money are spent every year cleaning up rubbish that can range from domestic refuse to furniture, tyres, white goods and agricultural waste.

The fight against illegal dumpers begins with education as schools all over the country instill environmental awareness from Junior Infants all the way to Sixth Class.

Most primary schools proudly fly their An Taisce Green Flag at the school gate, indicating they’ve implemented a successful policy of promoting and adopting anti-litter initiatives.

Yet somewhere along the way, the message gets lost as people are brought before the courts, prosecuted for their decision to dump their waste illegally.

Unlicensed waste collectors

Niall Kane is a senior executive engineer with Waterford City and County Council which is one of the more proactive local authorities when it comes to pursuing litter louts and fly tippers.

Niall oversees a team of eight that includes environmental inspectors, an environmental technician and executive engineers responsible for enforcement and clean up operations throughout the city and county.

“We don’t have an exact figure for how much our clean up operations cost each year but it’s safe to say we spend at least €1m on this aspect of council services throughout the city and county on an annual basis,” he says.

“That is money that could be spent on other services such as housing or playgrounds.

“We are trying to tackle the issue on multiple levels from the odd bag of household rubbish thrown on the side of the road, which is something we find more in urban areas, to the bigger problem of unlicensed waste collectors tipping rubbish in remote parts of the county.”

We were targeting one specific individual who replied to the post and agreed to collect the rubbish from an address that was one of our local authority houses. As he drove away, he was apprehended by the gardaí and we secured a conviction in the courts

While local authorities across the country are still figuring out new legislation surrounding GDPR when using footage from CCTV cameras installed at litter black spots, the Waterford executive has found other ways to ensure those breaking the law face justice.

“We’ve had a particular issue with unlicensed waste collectors who offer their services on social media and take payment for taking people’s rubbish away, and then dump it in the countryside,” explains Niall.

“We had to bring a specialist contractor in a few years ago to deal with over three tonnes of rubbish that had been dumped over a cliff near Annestown. That ultimately led to a successful prosecution as we were able to trace the waste back to a householder who had given the rubbish to an unlicensed waste collector.

“The householder was initially prosecuted but this was dropped when they provided information to secure the conviction of the waste collector.

“The collector was initially sentenced to six months in jail as he failed to appear in court on multiple occasions.

“He had previous convictions which also contributed to the sentence but this was reduced to a nine-month suspended sentence on appeal. And he was ordered to pay over €6,000 in costs along with a fine.”

Waterford Council has also deployed a ‘mystery customer scheme’ to entrap those operators who advertise their unlicensed waste collection services online.

“We had to seek a lot of legal advice to do it but we set up a fake Facebook profile where we asked for recommendations of a man in a van who would collect rubbish,” said Niall.

“We were targeting one specific individual who replied to the post and agreed to collect the rubbish from an address that was one of our local authority houses. As he drove away, he was apprehended by the gardaí and we secured a conviction in the courts.”

Niall says part of the problem is the lack of awareness among the public that someone who passes their rubbish to an unlicensed waste collector is also open to prosecution.

“We got plenty of negative commentary on the social media sting but it also got a conversation going and we ended up getting calls from the public asking if such and such a collector had a permit,” says Niall.

“It made people stop and think and that is as important as catching people after the event. When one man was caught in the act of dumping rubbish in the countryside recently, he asked our environmental inspector if he was going to go to jail.”

There was reason to worry, when so many prosecutions taken by Waterford City and County have proven successful.

Clean up costs

Other examples include a case last month in which a woman was fined €150 for the illegal disposal of waste after evidence was recovered during a dumping incident on the outskirts of Waterford City, which identified her.

The woman claimed she had paid a man who advertised a waste collection service on social media and said she took him at his word.

The cost of being involved in illegal dumping can prove a lot higher, as an elderly landowner discovered earlier this year when he appeared before Carrick-on-Suir District Court.

The man was ordered to pay €3,000 towards the local authority’s clean-up costs after he was found to have facilitated the unauthorised management of waste on his land in Carrick-on-Suir.

The accused was prosecuted under section 32 of the Waste Management Act but was spared a waste management conviction after pleading guilty to the charges.

Niall says it is important to know about your own individual responsibilities.

“People are responsible for their waste until it is accepted at a permitted facility and giving your waste to an inappropriate person can result, on summary prosecution, to a fine of up €5,000.”