The persistent scourge of illegal dumping detrimentally impacting upon the local community must be addressed with immediate effect, Town Mayor, Cllr Aengus O’Rourke, informed the Athlone Advertiser this week following the launch of his ‘Report Illegal Dumping (RID )’ campaign.
“As the evenings lengthen we are appreciating the outdoors on a more regular basis and this has to be welcomed.
“However, we still have a problem that is proving very hard to tackle, illegal dumping. It is a case of the minority, once again, spoiling it for the majority.
“Similar to the pandemic in many ways, 99 percent of individuals are playing by the rules and doing the right thing, but it only takes the reckless one percent to spoil our local environment for the rest of us.
“The Council can only do so much cleaning up with great assistance from Athlone Tidy Towns and volunteers. The work being carried out across the board is excellent and we have, as a town, raised our standards in recent years.
“However, as a volunteer and in my capacity as local Councillor it breaks my heart to see bags of household waste thrown in laneways, fields, drains and ditches.
“Catching these environmental vandals is not as easy as you might think. While we have a lot of covert cameras deployed across the Athlone area, they are not the ‘silver bullet’ individuals think they are. You have to be lucky to catch everything you need on a static camera to support a fine being issued to an individual.
“For example, the car registration and the actions of the individual need to be clear to see on the footage. The footage has to be clear enough for any court proceedings which then may follow.
“Having said that, camera technology is improving and we are fining a lot more people thanks to the covert cameras we have across the town. These cameras are moved around so we can respond quickly when black spots emerge or patterns of dumping in a particular area come to our attention,” Cllr O’Rourke remarked.
With elevated levels of illegal dumping remaining a constant concern, the Town Mayor is calling upon the public to afford assistance to the local authority in a bid to stem such unsightly occurrences.
“My strong opinion is that the only effective way, in a long-term sense, to deal with it is with the help of the public. The public need to become the litter wardens of our district. If a member of the public sees someone dumping or if they know of a serial dumper, they should report them.
“With this in mind I have launched my ‘Report Illegal Dumping (RID )’ campaign. I am pleading with individuals to take a pro-active role, to be vigilant and report illegal dumping when they see it happening or if they have information that might be of use to the Council, report it!
“In an effort to raise awareness, I have designed and sponsored a range of new signage publicising the Council’s freephone number which is 1800819000. These signs will be in place in the coming weeks. I have also published videos across social media. The Council have also agreed with my proposal to carry out unannounced visits to homes to make sure people are disposing of their household waste properly and these visits will start soon.
“Dumpers should know that when they are caught they will be fined. The outdoor Council staff work hard to keep our town tidy and Athlone has some wonderful volunteers, residents associations and of course, Athlone Tidy Towns, all working hard to keep things in order as best they can, but no individual should ever be expected to clean up someone else’s mess.
“As a society, together, we need to adopt a zero tolerance approach to dumping and that is why I am asking requesting a unified approach to make this situation better,” the Town Mayor concluded.
