Athlone Town Mayor, Cllr. Aengus O’Rourke, has rebuked the presence of unlicensed waste collectors and urged the public to remain vigilant as unsightly dumping scenes in a central urban location emerged this week.
Speaking to the Athlone Advertiser this week, the Town Mayor, noted that a field within the Garrycastle neighbourhood had been the scene of unwanted rubbish disposal by “rogue waste collectors”, whom, he stated, are charging households reduced rates to remove waste and dump it as they see fit.
“I was shocked to see the extent of the waste created by this particular rogue waste removal merchant. This is an act of vandalism on our environment and must be eradicated. It is time the rigours of the law are brought to bear on these people.
“On social media you regularly see a ‘man with a van or trailer’ offering to clear out your garage or your waste at ‘reasonable rates’. Effectively, what that often means is that your waste will end up being illegally dumped by someone who is not licenced or regulated and has no regard for the law or the environment.
‘It’s bad enough that these people are destroying our countryside, but it also costs our local authority vast sums of money each year to clean up after these con-men. If that wasn’t enough to consider, spare a thought for the law abiding, hard working honest waste collection companies. They pay for their permits, modern trucks, taxes, rates, staff and operate within the law. Yet, the rogue traders undermine their viability,” the Town Mayor remarked.
The Town Mayor vehemently encouraged citizens of the town to afford due caution to waste collectors within the vicinity of their residences.
“Please be aware of unauthorised waste collectors operating in your area. Always ask to see their permit which will display the collectors name, address and their permit number.
“The reason I am emphasising such vigilance is to ensure the public realise that it is a criminal offence to give waste to an unauthorised collector. On conviction of such an offence, the householder can be can be fined up to €5,000 or given 12 months in prison,” Cllr. O’Rourke stressed.
The Town Mayor noted his liaison work with the Environment section of Westmeath County Council to enhance surveillance and enforcement in such instances.
“I believe our enforcement team should work more closely with the licenced operators for information, I have no doubt they come across many of these rogue operators on a daily basis,” the Town Mayor added.
Pertaining to the Garrycastle dumping occurence, the Town Mayor met with residents of the neighbourhood who expressed their anger at the waste related incidents.
“We walked along the road that links Spar GarryCastle to the Greenway at Cartrontroy. Along this road there were many bags cast into the ditches and at two specific locations, dumpers had dispersed significant amounts of household rubbish. All you would expect from a garage clear-out was there, sprawled across green fields old school uniforms, children’s toys, prams, shoes, broken furniture and general household waste.
“I trawled through a number of black bags while I was there and unearthed names and addresses of those people who are the owners of such rubbish. They either dumped it there themselves or paid someone to do it. Either way, they are responsible and they will be fined.
“I have handed over the documents I found which included prescriptions, a letter from a school, a letter from Westmeath Community Development to an individual, utility bills, a receipt from Field’s Jewellers in Dublin for an item costing €100 with the purchaser’s name on it. I also found a number of photographs and negatives.
“Interestingly, none of the addresses were local. They were from Dublin, Navan and Mullingar. What this tells us is that this is most probably a rogue ‘man in a van’ operation, who won’t dump on his own door step but is happy to dump on ours. He needs to be found, fined, put off the road and then publicly named in court,” Cllr. O’Rourke emphasised.
The Town Mayor has called upon the local public to immediately report any sighting of such dumping occurences to the local authority.
“I would urge the public to report those you believe to be rogue collectors to Westmeath County Council or to make contact with me personally. I would happily pass on the information to the Council confidentially.
“The public are key to helping resolve this issue. Only use waste collectors with valid permits and if you know the name of a rogue waste collector please report them. We must all work together to identify and root out these thugs,” the Town Mayor concluded.
