Nowhere is out of bounds for illegal dumping it transpired this week after a pedestrian alleyway in Castlebar was noted as a new location preferred by those off-loading rubbish.
The alleyway is just a couple of feet from the busy main road through Linenhall Street, showing that not only rural but busy urban areas are now also being treated as fair game for illegal dumping. This latest development follows on from a court case in recent weeks where a local judge directed parties to ‘clean up their own filth’ after being detected for ‘fly-tipping’.
The Mayor of Castlebar and Fine Gael town councillor, Ger Deere, has now condemned these incidents of illegal dumping on one of Castlebar's busiest streets. The most recent off-load contained obvious domestic waste in the alleyway just off Linenhall Street, which is adjacent to a local butcher. The rubbish also contained a large amount of recyclable waste in the form of empty beer tins, food packaging, and plastic bottles, much of which, ironically, could have been disposed of free of charge at a recycling area only 200 metres away in the Market Square car park.
“I recently met with some of the local business owners on Linenhall Street about this issue and they have explained to me that they often find all types of rubbish in the area which they themselves clean-up most mornings. On this occasion, a number of domestic rubbish bags were blatantly left in an alleyway at a busy part of the town with plenty of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. It is obvious that the culprits have absolutely no respect for local residents and business people.
“I have highlighted the issue of illegal dumping on numerous occasions in the past and the excellent anti-litter work of the local Tidy Towns Committee. Despite these efforts to improve the litter situation in Castlebar, some people are completely ignoring common courtesy and this type of behaviour cannot be tolerated any longer.”
Happily it was also discovered this week that the business of recycling by environment-conscious Mayo citizens is literally smashing new records.
New figures show that nearly six million glass bottles and jars were deposited at glass bring sites in Mayo with the bring site at Castlebar council car park proving the county’s best-performing site with 91 tonnes of glass deposited, representing more than 291,000 bottles and jars.
According to a survey of its bring centres conducted by Rehab Glassco for Repak’s Recycling Week, which takes place until October 10, it was also revealed that during the first eight months of this year, 1,874 tonnes of glass were deposited in the county’s bring banks, equivalent to 48 items of glass for every man, woman, and child in the county.
Speaking at the launch of Repak Recycling Week, Dr Andrew Hetherington, CEO of Repak said: “We are all very good at recycling our wine and beer bottles but to get to higher glass recycling rates we also need to be regularly washing out and recycling all our coffee, jam, and sauce jars, as well as ensuring that crockery such as broken plates, cups and saucers don’t end up in glass banks. This year we are making a special call on people to bring the good recycling habits they have developed at home into the workplace. By recycling more inside and outside the home we can really make a positive impact on our environment.”
