A huge amount of rubbish is constantly being ditched throughout our precious countryside. In 2016 the costs of cleaning up waste in Meath was €2.4m; in 2017 it was down slightly to €2.3m. 

Illegal Collectors

Some door-to-door collectors dump rubbish. Remember if you give your waste to an illegal collector you can end up with a fine or a conviction. A list of authorised collectors is at: https://www.nwcpo.ie/permitsearch.aspx , all authorised collectors will carry a Waste Collection Permit and have this number displayed on their vehicle. Some unauthorised collectors advertise that they will give you a receipt, a receipt is not a Waste Collection Permit.

Report Illegal Dumping

Please report illegal dumping to environment@meathcoco.ie

If you see an advertisement for rubbish collection on social media, please reply by asking for a permit number. Thanks to members of the public who have been doing this. Together we can help prevent further illegal dumping.

Cleaning up Rubbish and Sifting through it for Evidence leading to Fines or Convictions

ON THE TRAIL OF ILLEGAL DUMPERS – A Litter Warden’s Typical Day

The Meath Chronicle highlighted the epidemic of illegal dumping in Meath in July 2018; see the full article at http://bit.ly/2LFl6nY. 

Gavan Becton from the Meath Chronicle spent a morning with one of our litter wardens Ashleigh Daly, a Community and Litter Warden from Meath County Council and Malachy Muldoon from Panda Waste; see the video below or at https://youtu.be/R0sPZQlK-88.

They came across approximately 60 bags of waste thrown at the side of a laneway off the M3 in Gainstown, Navan. It’s not unusual to see this volume of waste weekly. 

Wardens painstakingly open each rubbish bag and sift through it to try to find the identification of the dumpers. Dumpers can be illegal waste collectors or homeowners.

In this case, they found identification which will lead to a court appearance.

How we are Addressing the Illegal Dumping and Unauthorised Collectors Issue using Social Media

• Spreading awareness of the extent of the dumping problem in Meath by posting photos on social media and using the #StopIllegalDumping hashtag on Twitter
• Accumulating information about current unlicensed collector advertising by asking the public to send us photos of household rubbish collectors ads received in their mail or on social media
• Posting up to the minute warnings about where unauthorised collectors are currently operating
• Educating the public on how they are liable if they give their rubbish to an unlicensed collector
• Preventing the public from engaging with unauthorised collectors by asking the public to reply to social media advertisements by asking for a permit number. If the collector doesn’t reply with the number, it demonstrates to others that the collector may be operating illegally
• Publishing the list of authorised collectors where the public can search and check https://www.nwcpo.ie/permitsearch.aspx
• Locating Illegally dumped waste by asking the public to report illegal dumping to us