Cork council to crack down on those who can't prove how they are disposing of waste

Householders and businesses face prosecution if they cannot prove to council inspectors how they dispose of their waste

Mitchelstown-based Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre O’Brien said she had noticed a serious increase in roadside littering in her region in recent months. Picture: Larry Cummins

A crackdown on Cork householders and businesses that cannot provide receipts for their waste disposal from licensed collection companies is expected to get under way this summer.

Cork County Council is also employing more personnel to target farmers who cause increased pollution.

Louis Duffy, the head of the county council’s Environment Directorate, said by the middle of the year council inspectors would start calling on people who they suspect may not be disposing of their waste in a legal manner.

If they cannot prove they pay a licensed contractor to remove their waste, they will have to provide an explanation as to how they are doing it and if it is not satisfactory are liable to be prosecuted.

Mr Duffy told councillors the local authority had increased its number of agricultural inspectors and been able to employ three additional scientists who are working on preventing river pollution, which he said is primarily a result of discharges of farm waste.

He said there were “a considerable amount of discharges” coming from farms, which shows some farmers are not complying with their lawful environmental obligations to prevent watercourse pollution.

Mr Duffy said his officials would increase their inspections at farms to cut pollution of rivers and streams, especially ones which provide human drinking water and are home to endangered wildlife protected under EU legislation.

Mitchelstown-based Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre O’Brien said she had noticed a serious increase in roadside littering in her region in recent months.

Mr Duffy said his staff were sifting through such litter in an effort to find information which may identify the culprits.

Ms O’Brien said the lack of a major Civic Amenity Site (CIS) (major recycling site) in her municipal district which covers the general Fermoy and Mitchelstown area was not helping and it was the only municipality of eight in the county which had not got one.

She said she had to travel to Mallow to dispose of recyclables and that was adding to carbon footprint.

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Fine Gael councillor Kay Dawson, who lives in the same area, said the lack of a CIS in the region was totally unacceptable.

Mr Duffy said when the CISs were set up in the county some years ago there were substantial grants for their opening from central government, which were now all but gone and the cash-strapped local authority cannot afford to build them out of its own resources.

Mr Duffy said the Government was considering changing the rules on CIS anyway, as it was likely a new directive would be introduced at such sites where anything which can be upcycled and repaired will be taken into an outside holding compound for transfer elsewhere.