Litter & Visual Pollution on the Motorway Network

Amtmann

damoz wrote: »

I drove up and down the M8 this weekend - first time in a while. I could not believe the amount of litter on the side of the road. No bins at any lay by (lay by near Mitchelstown is knee deep in rubbish !). Obviously no enforcement of litter laws. So im looking to highlight this to the relevant authorities.

Who do i contact. Who is responsible for it? NRA? Each country council ?

It actaully made me angry. We drone on this country about the beautiful landscape and attracting toursits etc etc - well if they drive on that road they would be appalled. I know i was - and ashamed. Who throws litter our of their cars - in 2010 - seriously - they should be neutered.

So who do i contact. I will compose a letter / email (hopefully not as much of a rant as this post ! ) and send it to all bodies. If anyone has photos id appreciate it - didnt have a camera with me.

As for a solution - well, we have close to 500,000 on the dole, many of them able bodied long term - they should be put to work for the dole, and id have then start by cleaning up the mess in this country. I know i would get all the health and safety, minimum wage blah blah blah - but we need to restore some civic pride in this kip

If you contact the NRA they will put you onto the local authorities who are about as helpful as the Sphinx. We need a dedicated motorway maintenance division that would be responsible for litter collection, strimming, and road furniture repair or replacement.

fresca

Agree with "Highway Maintenance" body.

N18 crusheen to gort (particularly) has a significant volume of litter at the moment.

:mad:

CerebralCortex

fresca wrote: »

Agree with "Highway Maintenance" body.

N18 crusheen to gort (particularly) has a significant volume of litter at the moment.

:mad:

Another thing that bothers me about the M18 is the grass growing and sand gathering at the partitions of the road. Disgraceful!

Amtmann

I suggest people post as many pictures as possible of the filth. This should be a protest thread. Gather as much visual evidence as possible and then send it all to the media.

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

If you contact the NRA they will put you onto the local authorities who are about as helpful as the Sphinx. We need a dedicated motorway maintenance division that would be responsible for litter collection, strimming, and road furniture repair or replacement.

I would second this proposal. I would have this as a division of the NRA. This motorway maintenence agency (or perhaps a more general roads maintenence agency), would have the function monitoring the state of major highways, would send out inspection vehicles, I think, at a minimum every two months for slightly trafficked roads, and at least bi-monthly for more heavily-trafficked roads to identify any issues that need fixing. Issues that arise would then be contracted out to the local councils or private companies to repair, and it would be able to use the NRA's connections with Rennicks and other road furniture manufacturers to its advantage.

I think a system like this could be very workable.

mysterious

BluntGuy wrote: »

I would second this proposal. I would have this as a division of the NRA. This motorway maintenence agency (or perhaps a more general roads maintenence agency), would have the function monitoring the state of major highways, would send out inspection vehicles, I think, at a minimum every two months for slightly trafficked roads, and at least bi-monthly for more heavily-trafficked roads to identify any issues that need fixing. Issues that arise would then be contracted out to the local councils or private companies to repair, and it would be able to use the NRA's connections with Rennicks and other road furniture manufacturers to its advantage.

I think a system like this could be very workable.

Thats like saying I want to hire my mother to clean my room.

We will be doing no such thing. We are not going backwards in society. If you see rubbish on the ground you pick it up. If you see someone throwing rubbish you kick them in the balls. If you feel you want to put furniture or plant trees on the roadside, you do that.

The greatest laugh about humanity is, we feel someone is in authority over us. The last thing i want to see is a motorway division just to clean up rubbish because of other people's lack of respect to the world. It doesn't solve the problem.


My head hurts when I see this kind of view points. Lets resolve the matter rather than just hire someone to just pick up our rubbish on our roads.


The common thing to do is put up signs to remind people not to throw rubbish and give them the warning sign. Most people are naive and would eventually give in and grow up. Any friends I know that dump rubbish in front of me will get a bollocking off me. They don't do it around me anymore:);)


Seriously I do not want an agency wasting tax payers money because of peoples lack of respect the environment.

BluntGuy

mysterious wrote: »

We will be doing no such thing. We are not going backwards in society. If you see rubbish on the ground you pick it up. If you see someone throwing rubbish you kick them in the balls. If you feel you want to put furniture or plant trees on the roadside, you do that.

Yes to the first, no the second, and you're having a laugh to the third.

I'm all for people picking up litter, I recongise that people's mindsets need to change, in fact I wrote a large post about it in the M8 thread, as did Furet. However, people (for the foreseeable future) are still going to litter, and as such (unfortunately) someone needs to be there to pick it up.
Furthermore, the agency would not just be responsible for litter, but for all aspects of maintainence.

I would love to be able to plant trees on the road side, but it should be done under a supervised aforestation programme or landscaping programme. Planting random trees could either, well, most likely they wouldn't even grow if they were planted incorrectly and without guidance, but more dangerously, they would grow in unsuitable areas, where they would not blend in with the landscape, or where they would block sightlines or whatever. Care and thought must be put into any tree-planting programme, but I do support the idea.

Joey Joe-Joe Jr

Sweet Jesus Mysterious, that is possibly the most useless post any human being has ever made on any subject ever.

If you see rubbish on the ground you pick it up.

Off you go then, pick it all up, might keep you off this forum for a while! :rolleyes:

csd

Folks,

I was up and down the length of the M2 on Saturday, and it's as bad as the M8. Waste plastic, waving streamer-like in the trees, bin bags dumped in the verge. Disgusting. Will bring the camera next time.

/csd

mysterious

Joey Joe-Joe Jr wrote: »

Sweet Jesus Mysterious, that is possibly the most useless post any human being has ever made on any subject ever.



Off you go then, pick it all up, might keep you off this forum for a while! :rolleyes:

It wasn't it was the best slap accross the face you will need including this one.
I have done and will be tree planting tomorrow, so smart aren't you. And what are you doing?

Yeah I can gather "bitching"

mysterious

BluntGuy wrote: »

Yes to the first, no the second, and you're having a laugh to the third.

This is reality and its best to be as real about it as you can, as this is the reality your in!.

I'm all for people picking up litter, I recongise that people's mindsets need to change, in fact I wrote a large post about it in the M8 thread, as did Furet. However, people (for the foreseeable future) are still going to litter, and as such (unfortunately) someone needs to be there to pick it up.
Furthermore, the agency would not just be responsible for litter, but for all aspects of maintainence.

You can't change others and putting some government agency in there to fix this is not changing anything. It's actually taking more responsibility away from the people. Its also giving allowance to people to dump rubbish purposely because you have hired someone to pick it up.

Change starts with you , not outside of yourself.
I know you probably think whoa such a burden to take on more responsibility and its really only a laugh, but its your attitude that is the problem and the reason why most of you wont change anything. You can't change others and change starts with you. It's when you change the universe follow suit. Its seems all airy and spacy to handle. But its actually very very simple.

I would love to be able to plant trees on the road side, but it should be done under a supervised aforestation programme or landscaping programme. Planting random trees could either, well, most likely they wouldn't even grow if they were planted incorrectly and without guidance, but more dangerously, they would grow in unsuitable areas, where they would not blend in with the landscape, or where they would block sightlines or whatever. Care and thought must be put into any tree-planting programme, but I do support the idea.

LOL.......................... Funniest post of the year. Your asking for supervised aforesetation programme to plant trees.

Please tell me your taking the absaloute piss, because I find it insulting to call myself a human being when you have just basically shown yourself that you need another human being to supervise you if you plant a tree? Bluntguy I'd hate to look like I'm teaching you this much, but trees can look after itself.

You have got to be joking. Your not a kid, go out and plant trees and shrubs along your stretch of road or a place you feel is a nice spot to plant that is not on private property. Of course you don't have too to do that. The earth is not owned by anyone. So don't get me started on but "The council own this and that"....:rolleyes:



Care and thought is all that is needed Bluntguy. We are not retarded we are grown mature adults that have the will and power to make these places along road sides and local areas in which we live a much more pleasant and environmentally tidy to wander and live upon.

It gives me great annoyance when I hear posts like yours in todays world. Your still programmed imo on this "looking for authority" to shape a part of reality you wish to improve.

If you wish to improve this world no one in their will is allowed to stop you. They might try too but they cannot.

BluntGuy

mysterious wrote: »

This is reality and its best to be as real about it as you can, as this is the reality your in!.

...

KevR

mysterious wrote: »

If you feel you want to put furniture or plant trees on the roadside, you do that.

That's a bit like saying if you want a new road then go and build it yourself. We pay more than enough motor tax to expect the authorities to plant a few trees on the roadsides, keep roads reasonably tidy and in good condition.

You say that we shouldn't hire anyone to clean up litter because that would be ignoring the problem, but you also say the we should pick up other people's litter. That would be ignoring the problem just the same as hiring someone to do it. If people know they can drop litter without any consequences and someone else (be they paid or just a passer-by) will come and pick it up, they will continue to litter. It needs to be cleared up and then a very strict enforcement of our anti-litter and anti-dumping laws be implemented.

mysterious wrote: »

The greatest laugh about humanity is, we feel someone is in authority over us. The last thing i want to see is a motorway division just to clean up rubbish because of other people's lack of respect to the world. It doesn't solve the problem.

I do agree that people have become helpless and expect everything to be done on their behalf...when it suits them. The same people will then bitch and moan that the government interferes too much in our lives...when the government is doing something that they don't like. Unfortunately, we can't have it both ways.

There has to be a balance. People need to be able to look after themselves and do things for themselves, but at the same time the government does have to look after doing certain things (that's what they're there for; that's why we pay tax).


Like I was saying in the M8 thread, I'd like to see something similar to the New York "broken glass" approach adopted in Ireland to tackle litter problems on our roads. An intensive effort to clean up the roadsides followed by a zero tolerence approach to littering.

mysterious

KevR wrote: »

You say that we shouldn't hire anyone to clean up litter because that would be ignoring the problem, but you also say the we should pick up other people's litter. That would be ignoring the problem just the same as hiring someone to do it.

No I'm saying if you want change, you have to do something about it. There is no logic, in you walking bye rubbish coming on a forum to bitch about it and then ask someone else to do something about it. When you didn't pick it up, if you don't pick it up why should an agency do it.

If you feel you want to do it, go do it. But don't ask someone else do it. If you see someone dumping rubbish tell them is not acceptable. Everyone has a responsibility here. I just don't agree with giving more responsibility to the governments because its just not solving the problem.

If people know they can drop litter without any consequences and someone else (be they paid or just a passer-by) will come and pick it up, they will continue to litter. It needs to be cleared up and then a very strict enforcement of our anti-litter and anti-dumping laws be implemented.

It comes back to everyone having a responsibility. like parents who don't teach their kids to have respect for other people or themselves. Dumping rubbish is a sign of not having respect for yourself never mind the fact of polluting the world.

I do agree that people have become helpless and expect everything to be done on their behalf...when it suits them. The same people will then bitch and moan that the government interferes too much in our lives...when the government is doing something that they don't like. Unfortunately, we can't have it both ways.

Thats why I disagree with an agency hired to pick up our rubbish.

There has to be a balance. People need to be able to look after themselves and do things for themselves, but at the same time the government does have to look after doing certain things (that's what they're there for; that's why we pay tax).

The balance is "we", not you, they or government.

KevR

mysterious wrote: »

When you didn't pick it up, if you don't pick it up why should an agency do it.

It's all well and good saying I should pick up rubbish but what happens next? If I do pick up other people's rubbish, will there be extra enforcement to stop it happening again?

mysterious wrote: »

If you feel you want to do it, go do it. But don't ask someone else do it. If you see someone dumping rubbish tell them is not acceptable.

In some cases it might be possible to tell people it's not acceptable to litter but on motorways and other high speed roads it's not always going to be quite so simple. I would definitely like to see cameras in litter blackspots such as rest areas on the motorways.

dubhthach

Perhaps we should have a chain gang from the good citzens of Mountjoy/Portlaoise/Limerick/Cork Prisons out on the new motorways cleaning them up? *hides*

NedNew2

Good
Wexford County Council: Some councils deserve credit. As I posted before, the N25 between Wexford and New Ross is spotless and is the correct image to portray for those who enter the country from Rosslare.

Laois County Council: I also saw fairly intensive cleaning along the M7 at Portlaoise last weekend, although I'm not sure how far they went.

Bad
Kildare County Council: I think the worst I have sever seen is the M7 between Naas and Kildare. If all those plastic bottles were recycled they would be worth a tidy sum. I've seen bottles, black bags of rubbish, matresses, tyres and more on this stretch. This is a bad omen since this is probably the county with the most motorway in the country (M4, M7, M9). It took 2 months, 5 phone calls, 3 emails and threats of going to newspapers before the slipway at J12 The Curragh was cleaned (it's now as bad as ever again).

Tipperary South County Coucil: Second worst has to be the M8 south of Cashel.

Carlow County Council: The M9 Carlow ByPass is very badly maintained. I've seen black bags of rubbish left beside a flyover for over a month.

mysterious

NedNew2 wrote: »

Good
Wexford County Council: Some councils deserve credit. As I posted before, the N25 between Wexford and New Ross is spotless and is the correct image to portray for those who enter the country from Rosslare.

Laois County Council: I also saw fairly intensive cleaning along the M7 at Portlaoise last weekend, although I'm not sure how far they went.

Bad
Kildare County Council: I think the worst I have sever seen is the M7 between Naas and Kildare. If all those plastic bottles were recycled they would be worth a tidy sum. I've seen bottles, black bags of rubbish, matresses, tyres and more on this stretch. This is a bad omen since this is probably the county with the most motorway in the country (M4, M7, M9). It took 2 months, 5 phone calls, 3 emails and threats of going to newspapers before the slipway at J12 The Curragh was cleaned (it's now as bad as ever again).

Tipperary South County Coucil: Second worst has to be the M8 south of Cashel.

Carlow County Council: The M9 Carlow ByPass is very badly maintained. I've seen black bags of rubbish left beside a flyover for over a month.

The council are not the problem, its the people.

Thats again saying "my mammy is really bad ass cus she dinn'nt clean ma room"


Can we get real about this or what? Because I'd like to see some real solutions here not childishness, blaming and avoidance of self responsibility here.

Danno

A problem I see is with lorry drivers who park up overnight and drink several bottles of beer, put the lot of them into plastic bags and leave them at the pull-in-site. A few Garda with breathalysers could be the cure to this problem.

G_R

tbh Mysterious, if we were to go by your logic, we could have the same argument for prisons in the country.

"Locking them up isn't the answer, just teach people not to kill"

Doesn't always work. While, of course, in an ideal world, people wouldn't litter, trees/bushes wouldn't grow to big and weeds wouldn't grow at all. But the world we live in is far from perfect, and as such we need people to clean up after those who do litter. Why should those of us who pay road tax have to put up with rubbish all over our roads.

A Primary (N/M1-33,50) Route Maintenance Agency (name needs some work) needs to established to look after the main roads/m'ways which carry the bulk of our traffic.

csd

One thing I did notice was the litter seemed to be less of a problem on the PPP stretches of the M1 and M8. Maybe this is the answer -- the councils can't be trusted to keep the motorways/primary routes clean, so why not contract it out to the private sector?

/csd

KevR

mysterious wrote: »

The council are not the problem, its the people.

Thats again saying "my mammy is really bad ass cus she dinn'nt clean ma room"


Can we get real about this or what? Because I'd like to see some real solutions here not childishness, blaming and avoidance of self responsibility here.

I agree that the people are the root cause rather than the council but to be honest, I think you have a bit of a romantic notion of how the world should be. Yes, it would be great if everyone took repsonsibility for their own actions and we didn't need any police or anyone cleaning up after anyone else but that's unlikely to happen anytime soon - that's the reality of it!

I take responsibility for my own actions. I do what I want, when I want but I'm always careful that my actions don't impact negatively on other people (I don't litter, break the law, abuse people...etc.). Unfortunately, there are people out there who won't take responsibility for their actions and will do things that make other people's lives miserable so long as they can get away with it. They will have to reprimanded/punished for things such as littering or else they will keep doing it.

I mentioned in the M8 thread that people are less likely to litter a street or road if it is clean. If a street or road is already badly littered then people will be more likely to throw down that "one more small piece of litter" because it "won't really make a difference". I think an intensive clean-up followed by a zero-tolerence approach is the best way to go. Hold people responsible for their actions if they can't/won't be sensible and considerate in their actions.

mysterious

KevR wrote: »

I agree that the people are the root cause rather than the council but to be honest, I think you have a bit of a romantic notion of how the world should be. Yes, it would be great if everyone took repsonsibility for their own actions and we didn't need any police or anyone cleaning up after anyone else but that's unlikely to happen anytime soon - that's the reality of it!

I take responsibility for my own actions. I do what I want, when I want but I'm always careful that my actions don't impact negatively on other people (I don't litter, break the law, abuse people...etc.). Unfortunately, there are people out there who won't take responsibility for their actions and will do things that make other people's lives miserable so long as they can get away with it. They will have to reprimanded/punished for things such as littering or else they will keep doing it.

I mentioned in the M8 thread that people are less likely to litter a street or road if it is clean. If a street or road is already badly littered then people will be more likely to throw down that "one more small piece of litter" because it "won't really make a difference". I think an intensive clean-up followed by a zero-tolerence approach is the best way to go. Hold people responsible for their actions if they can't/won't be sensible and considerate in their actions.

The most real response I've heard so far. I almost gave up on humanity from reading in horror at the previous posts.

Well to live in an ideal world, its the ideals you have to put into action. We as you said are more likely to see results and things done if we all follow suit in a responsible way. The way things get done if we some of us lead the path. Not all of us are going to pull our weight. All I'm saying is for the people who are sitting on a forum bitching and asking for the government to do something,

My question is what have they done?

Sweet fock all. Thats my point and issue here. This is the root of the problem. We expect someone outside out of ourselves to solve the problem. It's like Einsteins quote.

The world is evil because good people sit around and do nothing


If you want littering to stop you go out and make a difference.

Birdhill In County Tipperary is a village that is where the people actually got out to make a difference and keep their village tidy.

So I don't support the notion of hiring a government agency picking up our litter because it means that people will just take it for granted and purposely throw litter out of their cars because they know someone will pick it up.

marmurr1916

mysterious wrote: »

If you see rubbish on the ground you pick it up.

What if I see a mattress dumped at the side of the road (I've seen one on the N20 between Mallow and Buttevant)?

Am I supposed to pick that up?

What if the litter I see is on the hard-shoulder of the motorway?

Am I supposed to stop illegally and pick it up while traffic roars past at 120 km/h plus?

mysterious wrote: »

If you see someone throwing rubbish you kick them in the balls.

Even women????

And you'd get yourself arrested for assault.

Tech3

mysterious wrote: »

The greatest laugh about humanity is, we feel someone is in authority over us.

The world is evil because good people sit around and do nothing

Mod Note:

I'm only going to warn you once on this. I've just quoted two lines of your previous posts above. What have they got to do with infrastructure? Nothing. Continue to post like this will result in lenghty bans and infractions.

Also constant soapboxing will not be tolerated on this forum.

fresca

Furet wrote: »

I suggest people post as many pictures as possible of the filth. This should be a protest thread. Gather as much visual evidence as possible and then send it all to the media.

If you find so called fly-tipping please call the EPA Hotline on 1850-365-121.
More info at http://www.epa.ie/.

I have to say that my experience of them has been positive.

I appreciate that this thread is more about "general litter" than "fly-tipping", but just in case...

fresca

marmurr1916 wrote: »

What if I see a mattress dumped at the side of the road (I've seen one on the N20 between Mallow and Buttevant)?

Call the EPA hotline on 1850-365-121

fresca

Kerry County Council are on the ball.
Yesterday, they were out picking up litter on the N22 ... just leaving tralee.
This morning, i counted 15 black sacks on the road side.

Thanks to the council.
No thanks to those who litter!!!

mysterious

tech2 wrote: »

Mod Note:

I'm only going to warn you once on this. I've just quoted two lines of your previous posts above. What have they got to do with infrastructure? Nothing. Continue to post like this will result in lenghty bans and infractions.

Also constant soapboxing will not be tolerated on this forum.

You cannot warn people for making a quote that is a very well known quote that is used by Einstein. It didn't break the charter. Its got to do with this topic about cleaning up our act and we making a difference.

This naturally ties into my point about this subject.

veryangryman

mysterious wrote: »

You cannot warn people for making a quote that is a very well known quote that is used by Einstein. It didn't break the charter. Its got to do with this topic about cleaning up our act and we making a difference.

This naturally ties into my point about this subject.

My roads are a disgrace, clean them. Pronto

BluntGuy

mysterious wrote: »

You cannot warn people for making a quote that is a very well known quote that is used by Einstein. It didn't break the charter. Its got to do with this topic about cleaning up our act and we making a difference.

This naturally ties into my point about this subject.

Your point has been made 700 million times with no expansion on it.

People need to clean up their act. Great, we got that.

But here's the reality:

Some people won't.

Hefty fining and CCTV may discourage it and reduce it to a large extent, but some people are still going to get away with it.

How do you get rid of that litter? Do people stop on the hard shoulder?

And what about signage repairs (which would also be within the remit of a maintenence agency)? Do people get out and put up new signs?

I can see it now:

"Sorry love, just gotta stop the car and put up the convenient new blue motorway sign I keep in the boot for times like this".

Deal with the points people make instead of continuing to just state one point-of-view. That is a discussion.

L1011

The litter problem is getting a minor level of abatement now - I've seen picking crews on the M1 (PPP section), M4 (untolled section), M50 and M8 (untolled sections) in the past two weeks.

Tech3

Mod Note:

Mysterious has been banned for 1 month for constant soapboxing.

lostinNaas

I just reported the entire Naas bypass on the EPA illegal dumping hotline - 1850365121.

They were very happy to take the report and promised to pursue Kildare CC. I don't know if it will have any effect, but it was therapeutic at least.

Local authorities are obliged to take action on EPA reports, so I suggest a concerted campaign of complaints to the EPA. Just pick a section that they can report to a particular local authority.

eddiej

The N2/M2 stretch from M50 to Ashbourne needs to go on the list. It is absolutely full of what looks like shrink wrap plastic on the tress, also black bags and general rubbish. Not a H&S freak but surely this should be removed as there is a minor risk of rubbish contributing to accidents.

Think a highways maintenance agency is a really good idea, not just litter but should include the following;

Keeping shore / road gullies clear
Replacing broken misaligned signage
Repair of crash barriers
Cleaning road signs so we can see them
Picking litter
Light maintenace and maybe looking at reducing number on certain junctions e.g turning off every second lamp

Other suggestions welcome. This could (and we need to start thinking new and trying to put stuff right) be a small agency 10 people maybe restrict to M and N routes who contract out the services as required but they police/inspect work and schedule when needed

Mysterious since you enjoy Einstein

We cannot solve problems with the same ideas that we used to create them

EJ

alentejo

Totally agree that the new motorway network is filthy. One small issue that some of the parking spots dont have any litter bins (eg M9 Dublin - Carlow)

NedNew2

alentejo wrote: »

Totally agree that the new motorway network is filthy. One small issue that some of the parking spots dont have any litter bins (eg M9 Dublin - Carlow)

I wouldn't necessarily agree. There was a picnic area/lay-by on the N25 between Waterford and New Ross which was almost always heavily littered due to overflowing bins and careless/shameless people. Crows were also a real problem as they used to pull the rubbish out of the bins.

The eventual and effective solution was to remove the bins altogether and instead place signs warning of fines for littering. Visitors had to bring their rubbish with them. That solved the problem completely in that location.

Carawaystick

In fairness, however littered the road network is, It's probably neater and tidier than the section of rail line just west of Tullamore station.....

Run_to_da_hills

A little bit of detective work can work effectively, addresses left in bin liners etc. I reported a black bag of rubbish that was dumped in the Metals lane way by the Dart in South Dublin, a dog / fox had ripped it apart leaving the evidence exposed.

D.L.R.

We have a real problem in this country generally, regarding presentation/maintenance. Doesn't seem to figure highly in the national psyche, the image thing. The whole country needs a sweep.

KevR

Litter and Polution issue, although not motorway/road related:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0321/environment.html


Funnily enough, I was walking along by the Eglington Canal in Galway this morning and there were 3 people in cannoes picking rubbish out of the canal. Fair play to them!

d4v1d

regarding litter in general i think people, even those concerned by the disgrace our country is in, are still waiting for the council/government to provide solutions. you can't help but think of homer simpson 'can't someone else do it'

i'm willing to go out and pick the litter up off the side of the motorway (m9 in my case). today, one of the councillors sitting on the carlow council is calling in as i want to discuss with him on how to go about this. if i bag the rubbish, will the council then come and collect.

it's that simple, if it bothers you, go out and do something about it. if anyone wants to give me a hand then feel free to contact me.

d4v1d

d4v1d wrote: »

regarding litter in general i think people, even those concerned by the disgrace our country is in, are still waiting for the council/government to provide solutions. you can't help but think of homer simpson 'can't someone else do it'

i'm willing to go out and pick the litter up off the side of the motorway (m9 in my case). today, one of the councillors sitting on the carlow council is calling in as i want to discuss with him on how to go about this. if i bag the rubbish, will the council then come and collect.

it's that simple, if it bothers you, go out and do something about it. if anyone wants to give me a hand then feel free to contact me.

If you bag rubbish and leave the bag next to the road, you leave yourself open to being done for littering! That's without mentioning possible violations that prohibit pedestrians from being on a motorway & health and safety.

fresca

I fear that this is a trend that will be repeated all over the country...

http://www.radiokerry.ie/news/

22 Mar 2010More rubbish than ever being dumped in the Kerry countryside

Efforts to win the war against litter in Kerry, are being severely hampered by staffing cutbacks at Kerry County Council.
That's according to the council's Environmental Officer Micháel Ó Coileáin, who says that despite the council's best efforts, there is more rubbish than ever being dumped in the Kerry countryside.
He said more people than ever are engaging in indiscriminate dumping, and the council simply doesn't have enough staff to deal with the scale of the problem.

spacetweek

KevR wrote: »

Like I was saying in the M8 thread, I'd like to see something similar to the New York "broken glass" approach adopted in Ireland to tackle litter problems on our roads. An intensive effort to clean up the roadsides followed by a zero tolerence approach to littering.

Can you tell me more about this approach? How did it work?

KevR wrote: »

In some cases it might be possible to tell people it's not acceptable to litter but on motorways and other high speed roads it's not always going to be quite so simple. I would definitely like to see cameras in litter blackspots such as rest areas on the motorways.

I had thought of this a while back. There's a precedent in other countries for it too - the UK is an example. Over there I've heard that some councils use CCTV cameras to catch litterers. It's labour intensive, but could work well at rest stops and traffic lights (two black spots) - litter can easily be spotted coming out a window, and the reg plate can be seen - which leads you to a home address where the vehicle is registered.

csd wrote: »

One thing I did notice was the litter seemed to be less of a problem on the PPP stretches of the M1 and M8. Maybe this is the answer -- the councils can't be trusted to keep the motorways/primary routes clean, so why not contract it out to the private sector?
/csd

This is very interesting. If it's true, then it proves that the problem is with the council and that you could, if you wanted, have zero litter - it's just a question of priorities and resources.

KevR wrote: »

I mentioned in the M8 thread that people are less likely to litter a street or road if it is clean. If a street or road is already badly littered then people will be more likely to throw down that "one more small piece of litter" because it "won't really make a difference". I think an intensive clean-up followed by a zero-tolerence approach is the best way to go. Hold people responsible for their actions if they can't/won't be sensible and considerate in their actions.

Yes, I read an article in a magazine years ago about the psychology of littering. Basically litter, and frequency of littering, go up together on the graph. A clean area stays clean; a dirty area gets dirtier really fast. The trick is to have two policies - a zero-litter policy, implemented by having frequent clean-ups; and a punishment for those who violate it.

fresca wrote: »

If you find so called fly-tipping please call the EPA Hotline on 1850-365-121.
More info at http://www.epa.ie/.

Thank you very much for that number, I've it saved in my phone and shall be ringing them.

I really think this is a problem that could be solved. In Ireland, there are examples in the past where we've identified a problem, and, given sufficient will, priority and resources, solved it. The smoking ban and the big reduction in road deaths are two that spring to mind. Neither could have been predicted in advance really.

The problem with littering is that there's no will ("Who cares?"), priority (no national strategy, no celebrity behind it á la Gay Byrne), or resources (cleanups are underfunded and many roads appear to have no cleaning occurring at all, judging by the age of the litter).

emfifty

we need to take a leaf out of the nordies book. take a look at some photos of the new newry bypass under construction. now take a look at some of the immaculate landscaping.

time for ZERO tolerance re litter/weeds/bad landscaping in this country!:(

http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/roads/a1beechhillcloghogue.html

ForiegnNational

As one of the people who walk the countryside with bin bag and gloves in hand, I can report that the type of littering experienced over the last four years has changed fundamentally.

During the boom years, the majority of litter was breakfast/food material that people (I won't say builders, but it seems obvious by the change that it is) dumped on the way to work (e.g. Lucozade and energy drinks bottles, coffee cups, breakfast roll wraps, etc).

Now the problem is fly tipping. People coming out into the countryside and fly tipping trailer loads or rubbish in the banks and verges.

I partially blame the introduction of the 3 Euro entrance fee for the recycling centres.

Fly tipping is obvious on the motorway network as well. I do the Cork to Dublin drive most weekends and I can only agree with earlier posters that the laybys are simply inundated with large quantities or rubbish.

We should therefore look to address the need to fly tip (which although always present has rocketed). I think that scrapping the charge to simply go into the recycling centre is a must as if people are happy to fly tip, they are definitely not the sort of people who would pay to recycle their waste in the first place.

I could rant, but I will leave it here for now...

Aidan1

The shocking thing is how predictable it is - if you drive east or west from Athlone on the M6 for about the length of time it takes to eat a burger, you start to see fast food packaging strewn along the hard shoulder. There are some real blackspots

The Local Authorities seem to be doing something about this now though - on the M7 in Kildare on Friday morning there were people trawling the hardshoulder and verge with black plastic bags (by Mooreabbey, and again further South). On the N25 on Saturday there were a number of ladies doing the same on one of the on ramps in Carrigtwohill (could be the Tidy towns Ctte though?).

crushproof

One thing I have noticed is the amount of those "Mini Skip" waste bags being dumped, with the name of the distributor...and therefore owner of the bags being clearly labelled on them. I emailed one of the companies about 3 of these bags dumped up in Cherrywood last week and I didn't receive any reply at all, I'll be ringing them anyway.

Just wondering is the company liable for these or the people who rented them out?!
I mean, how on earth do these end up in a ditch on the side of a road?! The customer rents them, fills them up with waste and then the operator collects them and brings them to a waste facility? Really can't see how so many are ending up being illegally dumped?!

Also, CCTV doesn't always work, they had a thing on RTE a while back about litter wardens and they set up hidden CCTV in a litter blackspot, all the vans that were caught dumping had false plates.

I definitely think the charges for recycling centres should be dropped, people who don't have a conscience are obviously going to dump their waste rather then pay for it to be treated in a environmentally friendly way. And I think the WEEE drop off service in electrical shops should be advertised more. It's crazy how much fly tipping there has been recently, it really does taint our country.

My understanding is that the skip bags are bought or sometimes given away to customers who then have to pay for the collection and disposal of the bag and contents. I don't believe the suppliers are liable for misuse of the bags, as providing the bags is not part of a contract to collect the full bags afterwards.

marmurr1916

damoz wrote: »

Ok so here is the reply i got from the NRA :

Thank you for your email regarding litter control on the M8.

Under the Roads Act, the maintenance of all national and regional roads in a county or city is a function of the council of that county or city. In the case of the M8, the road authorities concerned are Laois, Cork and Tipperary County Councils.

Funding is provided by the government and allocated through the Authority to each local authority to maintain national roads in their area. Programming to carry out the specific tasks is decided by the local authority within the available budget. It should be noted however, that the maintenance budget which covers a number of areas such as repair work to potholes, litter picking, winter maintenance, has been significantly reduced in recent years.


As indicated in your email, responsibility for litter rests initially with those members of the public who discard rubbish and litter in this manner. While the local authorities are working within available budgets to ensure that an adequate level of service is maintained, the real solution lies in the hands of the public.

________________

So where should i go next - i suppose each county council. I am not too optimistic though, as in ireland i am sure it will just be a case of getting a run around and excuses - and no action will be taken. But im willing to at least try.

I'm amazed (well not really) that they haven't set national standards for cleaning and maintaining motorways.

They're among the most expensive pieces of infrastructure built since independence (and likely to remain so for a long while) and they should be maintained properly.

The NRA and the councils don't seem to realise the safety issues either; loose litter blowing around a motorway isn't exactly a plus for safety.

Maybe you should try the Road Safety Authority?