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Around 150t of waste illegally dumped in ‘Royal’ countryside
In the region of 150 tonnes of illegally dumped waste - that is the equivalent to the weight of 21 African elephants or the granite capstone on Ireland’s largest dolmen - has been found in county Meath so far this year.
A large Batmobile, which appears to be an electric ride on, is among the latest rubbish dumped near a beauty spot.
Found with it, near Ballivor forest, was a selection of plastic toys for younger boys and girls as well as pieces of carpet, cardboard and household rubbish.
Meath county council appealed to people saying: ”If you are doing up your playroom, please take your kids’ toys to the recycling centre and don’t dump them in their recreational spaces. These items were dumped at the entrance to the forest in Ballivor next to Bord Na Móna.”
Community Warden with Meath County Council, Alan Nolan said another load of illegally dumped rubbish found this year included four large speakers, an amplifier, 5 televisions and 6 computer monitors as well as numerous CDs and said, “that was all dumped 140 metres inside a farmers field”.
He suspects that some of what has been recovered could be the result of unauthorised collectors dumping “anywhere they can”.
He estimates that so far this year between 130 to 150 tonnes of rubbish has been collected by the council, that includes over 5,700 black bags of roadside rubbish collected by people as part of the Green Kilometre initiative earlier this year.
A council spokesperson said the rubbish dumped at Ballivor is “is typical of the dumping which we see across the county from house clear outs”.
“When we have been able to trace it back to the householder we are often told that they gave the items to a “man with a van” from an online community page on Facebook, who told them that he/she had a permit and would provide receipts from the dump or recycling centre. Please note that this is not an acceptable defence in the opinion of the courts.”
The council said that, “needless to say he/she does not provide genuine receipts and the waste is generally dumped in the closest quiet place – often a recreational area such as the beach or bog, where people go for rest and relaxation.”
“Never give your waste to a collector without a waste collection permit, check their permit at www.nwcpo.ie. This particular haul is very distinctive and was dumped at the entrance to a forest in Ballivor on Monday last. If you think you recognise this material, please get in touch with us."
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