At the month’s meeting of Tipperary County Council, councillors from all Municipal Districts agreed they are witnessing “deplorable” levels of dumping in the form of coffee cups, takeaway wrappers, dog fouling, and black bags on approach roads.
During a discussion on Environment and Climate Action locally at this month’s meeting, Councillor Phyll Bugler was the first to call for a national campaign to prevent littering saying it kills tourism and adds unnecessary stress to the Tidy Towns group in her area.
The Thurles Municipal District has also fallen victim to serious levels of dumping, with Councillor Sean Ryan asking if technology could be used to catch those responsible.
The same complaints are being experienced in Cashel, with Councillor Declan Burgess supporting the use of technology to reprimand the culprits and suggesting a fresh campaign to bring awareness.
Councillor Davy Dunne suggested that the council work with local takeaway businesses to mark takeaway bags with the car registration, as they are running out of ways to deter people from throwing them from cars on roadsides.
He also mentioned that no matter what the council does to encourage people to clean up after their dogs, from bags to bins, fouling is still a major issue the Carrick-on-Suir area.
Another story from Councillor Marie Murphy, saying Tidy Towns recently cleaned up 42 bags of rubbish at the Vee and 15 bags were collected from the forest by Clogheen National School.
In response to the frustrations heard, Director of Services, Eamon Lonergan, said that it was the worst they have ever seen across the county.
He says it hampers the progress of fixing roads as it is a waste of time and money for road engineers to have to pick up litter.
He concluded that they intended to develop a campaign this year, that a litter management plan was up for review, and that there classified black spots that have caught people dumping, and would continue to monitor.
