Litter lout bagged after fine reminder note found

A LITTER lout who appeared in court three times last year was identified on the last occasion when county council officials found a note reminding her to pay an on-the-spot fine in one of 11 bags she’d dumped.

The case was confirmed yesterday by Cork County Council’s litter warden supervisor in south Cork, Jim Dooley, who said up to 70% of illegal dumping within a five kilometre radius of the city was being perpetrated by city dwellers.

Mr Dooley said that €650 on-the-spot fines were issued in the south Cork area last year - a region encompassing Youghal to Macroom and down to Kinsale.

A total of 18 people who failed to pay the €125 on-the-spot fines were convicted in the district court. There was a 45% increase over 2004 in the number of fines handed out to people who were caught dumping litter illegally on the side of the road.

Mr Dooley said he had no doubt the introduction of pay-by-weight charges had had an effect on illegal dumping.

Ironically, he said that most waste dumped could be recycled free of charge.

“We come across situations, say when seven or eight bags are dumped, that about 70% of what’s inside them is recyclable. People are still dumping electrical items which can be disposed of free of charge,” Mr Dooley said.

He said he would like to see the Department of the Environment revisit on-the-spot charges set down for illegal dumping.

Mr Dooley said it wasn’t equitable that somebody could be fined €125 for dropping a cigarette butt and exactly the same amount for bags full of rubbish.

“We need to revisit these fines, they have to be more graded,” he said.

Over the past 12 months a number of councillors have expressed fears that pay-by-weight charges are leading to increased illegal dumping.

People have also been abusing recycling sites in north Cork where officials said that anything from soiled nappies, parts of old car engines and broken cans were being dumped at recycling centres.