Louth County Council told to use everything at its disposal to address illegal dumping

Louth County Council have been told to use everything at its disposal to address illegal dumping in the county. 

Independent councillor Maeve Yore told the March meeting of Louth County Council that the local authority should take a "zero tolerance approach" and to be "more proactive" when it comes to tackling illegal dumping. 

She said residents in one particular estate are having to dump their waste over the walls to alleviate pressure on their bins. 

Fellow Independent councillor Ciarán Fisher called on Louth County Council to clamp down on businesses and households who fail to abide by the local authority's waste byelaws.

"It was noted that there are businesses that often leave the bin out in contradiction of our byelaws, and fines have been issued to some businesses every week and they’re happy to pay it," he said.

Under the Louth County Council (Segregation, Storage, and Presentation of Household and Commercial Waste) Byelaws 2019 householder are required to comply using one of the following options:

1. Registration with one of the local waste collectors for the provision of bins to allow for kerbside collection of household waste or
2. Bring segregated household waste to a Transfer Station/Civic Amenity Site as required. All receipts as proof of this are required to be submitted.

Householders that fail to provide evidence of one of the above will be subject to a €75 fixed penalty notice. 

Cllr Fisher questioned if the local authority could introduce escalating fines that "gets worse week-on-week if the problem doesn’t get better". 

David Hanratty, Director of Operations and Environment Delivery with Louth County Council said there "isn't really scope for an escalating fine" in legislation but said the Council would examine if it could be possible through the Litter or Waste Management acts. 

Cllr Fisher also asked about the outcome of the Council's reverse bin register in Castleross in Dundalk. 

Mr Hanratty said Louth County Council surveyed 153 houses as part of the project. 

He said although it is "resource intensive" the Council hopes to replicate it in other areas throughout the county. 

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The Council were also told it should be "tactical" in its approach to increase the number of brown bins across the county. 

Cllr Fisher said: "We are encouraging brown bins across the county. But we might be tactical about that and if we’re looking at a very densely packed urban area where bin storage is an issue, maybe we could look at exemptions in certain scenarios. We already have a bin problem on footpaths and we don’t want to introduce more bins."

In response, Mr Hanratty said it is national policy to encourage the use of brown bins. He said rather than granting exemptions, residents could opt for smaller bins to ease storage concerns.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.