Judge John Neilan has decided not to convict a man for leaving three bags of recycling outside a bottle bank and instead criticised Westmeath County Council’s recycling management.
At Mullingar District Court the judge was highly critical of the council for failing to keep the recycling facility at Millmount emptied appropriately.
“The citizens of this state are contributing to the protection of the environment by attending at bring banks to dispose of old clothes” and other items, he said.
“It behoves the council to make sure all [bins] are readily usable for citizens, otherwise people will say “Why should I go down – the bins are full, I can get nothing in”.
The local authority was prosecuting Jim Donoghue of New Ballinderry, Mullingar who had been seen on CCTV leaving the bags of crushed cans outside the can bank in July of last year.
He pleaded not guilty to the offence, saying he had left recycling material in the area, not litter.
Mr Donoghue said he lives only 200 metres away from the facility and knew the bins were due to be emptied that day. He said he had often left his recycling on the trailer when it arrived.
He had placed bottles into one of the bottle banks, but the can bank was full.
However, Mr Donoghue was also critical of the council for insisting that people separate their glass into green, brown, and white when it is all emptied together into one pile on the trailer.
While the bins for white and brown glass are rarely full, the banks for green glass and for cans are always overflowing after the weekend and the bins are not emptied when there are bank holidays.
Yet those who recycle are not allowed put green bottles into other containers when that one is full, he said.
He added that the trailer has no sides and that glass and bottles are often left on the road after the bins are emptied. The council did not deny this.
Judge Neilan said he was “absolutely gobsmacked” to hear that the council ask everyone to recycle by colour and said it was a “crazy issue” that they were “taken up by lift and all mixed in together”.
“After all their endeavours regarding separation, one lorry comes along and it’s all tipped in,” he said.
The judge was also critical of the council for not showing him evidence of Mr Donoghue using the glass bin. This would have shown his bona fides, he said.
“He acted in good faith,” the judge said of the three bags of cans. “He left them there in a careful manner alongside the bin that was full.”
“I don’t believe he should bear a conviction, he had shown his bona fides,” he concluded.
He said it was reasonable for the council to suggest that Mr Donoghue bring the three bags home with him, “but if people are to be encouraged to attend, what’s the point if the local authority don’t have the bins ready to use?”
