Sligo the first county to tackle illegal dumping by using Eircodes

Andy From Sligo

im not overly sure how this is going to work ... or even if it is going to work.

plus on the side note of onus of holding the public responsible to not using an illegal or unregistered collector to dispose of their rubbish - well why does the burden have to lie on the public? - they have to really check over all the paperwork when white van man says "I can take that rubbish away for ya mate"

why are not the council putting 'stings' in place to get these illegal and unregistered off the road? - I have seen other councils doing it . They go undercover and phone up people in the paper or from adverts on social media or ad in shop widow and then say "I need some rubbish collecting" or "I need something dumping" then your man comes around and they ask to see the paperwork - no paperwork then they are done on the spot.

If other councils can do this why cant Sligo CoCo - why are they holding householder responsible for rogue fly tippers etc

Plus the tipped rubbish is an eyesore for visitors to the area ... yes it is. But the first area to be tacked is a bog up in Tubbercurry , now I dont know how many visitors to the area go to a bog up in tubbercurry, but I can tell you I took the old Collooney to Sligo route last week and the amount of rubbish in the verges in colllooney underneath the railway bridge and on the way to ballisodare and then on joining the new (haha still call it new after all this time) N4 with rubbish strewn there in the verges and central reservation would be more of an eyesore to visitors for the area I should imagine.

on those roads, seemed to be an awful lot of fast food takeaway waste (those yellow plastic boxes a burger comes in) and cans and other rubbish - I am just predicting people must just be eating/driving and then just toss it out of the window after they are finished with it. Now i think it looked like to me its quite an ongoing problem there - why is this not being tackled first? -

The eircode solution is not going to stop all that, I dont know what will . Maybe a few hidden cameras photographing the numberplates of the offenders maybe? - maybe a levvy put on the fast food takeaway's seeing as a lot of the rubbish could be caused from their waste maybe? - I dont know, but it all needs tackling .. and tidying up! - I think the more it is left strewn oout on the verges and not cleaned up then the mentality (and bad i know) with some people is "well everyone else is littering here , so I might as well do the same"

Anyway here is the piece on OceanFm today about the eircode thing:

sligo-the-first-county-to-tackle-illegal-dumping-by-using-eircodes/

Kristopherus

So have they homed in on your Eircode?

Victor

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

why are they holding householder responsible for rogue fly tippers etc

Because householders have responsibilities as well?

Andy From Sligo

Kristopherus wrote: »

So have they homed in on your Eircode?

not yet but it sounds like they will be doing very soon - I wonder how they are going to do it? - are they going to send a letter to all households asking where you dispose of your rubbish or how you dispose of it?

either I am dense (most probably am) but it sounds like a logistical nightmare to me - maybe good in theory but I dont know about practice

Black Bart

Domestic recycling will have to be looked at again, householders have to wash dry and pay waste disposal companies to remove recycling, waste disposal companies come along and sell it on for profit!!

Mint Sauce

Not sure if I am reading this right, but litter wardens and councils have being doing this for years. Find a flytipped bag of rubbish, see if any utility bills, or addressed envelops, and hey presto, address where rubbish came from. An Eircode just makes you easier to find now.

Victor

Black Bart wrote: »

householders have to wash dry ... recycling,

When you're finished washing the dishes, just rinse the recyclable materials and leave them drip dry.

Mint Sauce

Victor wrote: »

When you're finished washing the dishes, just rinse the recyclable materials and leave them drip dry.

What about takeaway boxes?

Andy From Sligo

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Not sure if I am reading this right, but litter wardens and councils have being doing this for years. Find a flytipped bag of rubbish, see if any utility bills, or addressed envelops, and hey presto, address where rubbish came from. An Eircode just makes you easier to find now.

no, your reading it wrong

I think (well I think) they are going to check everyon'es eircode in Sligo and question you how you are disposing of your rubbish in a george orwell kinda way - dont think they will be searching through the bin bags for the eircode on stuff

Black Bart

I have no issue with doing that Victor, but we have the pleasure of paying the waste disposal companies in order for them to sell it on for profit.

Victor

Black Bart wrote: »

I have no issue with doing that Victor, but we have the pleasure of paying the waste disposal companies in order for them to sell it on for profit.

They're businesses. They exist to make a profit.

Would you like to be sorting recycling waste and find last month's dinner in it?

TallGlass

Mint Sauce wrote: »

What about takeaway boxes?

What type ? If they are paper they go into the brown bin.

If you can get the free from contamination they go in green if foil or plastic.

To be perfectly honest. I don't see the big deal with washing it makes no real sense. The stuff is going to be sorted and then if it's paper turned to a mash, if it's plastic melted down and turned to pellets, if it's steel melted down and turned into a solid. All these steps remove contamination anyway, and if you watch YouTube videos, majority of the stuff I watched, the stuff is crushed and washed anyway?

TallGlass

Victor wrote: »

They're businesses. They exist to make a profit.

Would you like to be sorting recycling waste and find last month's dinner in it?

Machines sort the waste. Humans sort at the start of the process at a basic level, and there is a high level of PPE.

And to be honest, I am fairly certain, black bin rubbish is sorted also. Although it may vary from operator to operator, but there is no reason black bin rubbish cannot be. In fact, I would give it a few more years for the tech sorting plants to go full scale they'll start doing that.

The vast majority of any product can be recycled for something, no reason why we send so much to landfill, should be seen as a last resort.

Black Bart

First of all Victor last months dinner should not be in amongst this weeks recycling, I'm talking about bringing my recycling (not general waste) down to Greenstar on a Saturday morning, I will have it cleaned and dry and separated before I put it into separate skips, I then have to pay the guy at the gate for the pleasure in doing so, then his boss makes a profit on this by selling it on.

Andy From Sligo

Victor wrote: »

They're businesses. They exist to make a profit.

Would you like to be sorting recycling waste and find last month's dinner in it?

i feel something not ethical right about profit being made on recycling .. feel even more uncomfortable that the general public have to pay so much that the recycling companies make profit out of it at the end of the day ... even if they are a business and the ethos is that all companies must make profit - why is our rubbish not removed in a non-profit organisation kind of way?

Victor

So, if it is so lucrative:

Form your own waste management company.

Or

Form your own waste management coop.

Andy From Sligo

maybe waste disposal companies should be unprofitable state / council owned rather than run by companies who make a business and profit out of it?

Fann Linn

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

im not overly sure how this is going to work ... or even if it is going to work.

plus on the side note of onus of holding the public responsible to not using an illegal or unregistered collector to dispose of their rubbish - well why does the burden have to lie on the public? - they have to really check over all the paperwork when white van man says "I can take that rubbish away for ya mate"

why are not the council putting 'stings' in place to get these illegal and unregistered off the road? - I have seen other councils doing it . They go undercover and phone up people in the paper or from adverts on social media or ad in shop widow and then say "I need some rubbish collecting" or "I need something dumping" then your man comes around and they ask to see the paperwork - no paperwork then they are done on the spot.

If other councils can do this why cant Sligo CoCo - why are they holding householder responsible for rogue fly tippers etc

Plus the tipped rubbish is an eyesore for visitors to the area ... yes it is. But the first area to be tacked is a bog up in Tubbercurry , now I dont know how many visitors to the area go to a bog up in tubbercurry, but I can tell you I took the old Collooney to Sligo route last week and the amount of rubbish in the verges in colllooney underneath the railway bridge and on the way to ballisodare and then on joining the new (haha still call it new after all this time) N4 with rubbish strewn there in the verges and central reservation would be more of an eyesore to visitors for the area I should imagine.

on those roads, seemed to be an awful lot of fast food takeaway waste (those yellow plastic boxes a burger comes in) and cans and other rubbish - I am just predicting people must just be eating/driving and then just toss it out of the window after they are finished with it. Now i think it looked like to me its quite an ongoing problem there - why is this not being tackled first? -

The eircode solution is not going to stop all that, I dont know what will . Maybe a few hidden cameras photographing the numberplates of the offenders maybe? - maybe a levvy put on the fast food takeaway's seeing as a lot of the rubbish could be caused from their waste maybe? - I dont know, but it all needs tackling .. and tidying up! - I think the more it is left strewn oout on the verges and not cleaned up then the mentality (and bad i know) with some people is "well everyone else is littering here , so I might as well do the same"

Anyway here is the piece on OceanFm today about the eircode thing:

sligo-the-first-county-to-tackle-illegal-dumping-by-using-eircodes/

The houses were always there. Why did they need eircodes before they stsrted chasing people?

For Forks Sake

Fann Linn wrote: »

The houses were always there. Why did they need eircodes before they stsrted chasing people?

Because, especially in rural areas you could have 20/30 houses in the one townland with no discernible identifier, the Eircode is linked to the individual property, thus making it easier to identify those dumping illegally.

Andy From Sligo

Fann Linn wrote: »

The houses were always there. Why did they need eircodes before they stsrted chasing people?

.... to further justify the use of eircodes?

Fann Linn

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Because, especially in rural areas you could have 20/30 houses in the one townland with no discernible identifier, the Eircode is linked to the individual property, thus making it easier to identify those dumping illegally.

And what about apartments? And what if people refuse to acknowledge the letters? What sanctions can the council bring to bear?

dollylama

I read it that every householder will have to register with a licensed waste collector, providing your eircode in the process. If you take waste to a council disposal site, you have to give your eircode to the guy at the gate!

I assume that the council will then compile a list of eircodes that aren't registered with any waste collector and the knocks on the door will follow. This will be a recurring process I imagine

I'll post a link to the story if I find it again. It was a propoganda piece by the council



http://www.sligococo.ie/FeaturedContent/PilotProject-EircodesInvestigation/

Andy From Sligo

dollylama wrote: »

I read it that every householder will have to register with a licensed waste collector, providing your eircode in the process. If you take waste to a council disposal site, you have to give your eircode to the guy at the gate!

I assume that the council will then compile a list of eircodes that aren't registered with any waste collector and the knocks on the door will follow. This will be a recurring process I imagine

I'll post a link to the story if I find it again. It was a propoganda piece by the council



http://www.sligococo.ie/FeaturedContent/PilotProject-EircodesInvestigation/

a bit like the TV licence then (or how the TV licence system is supposed to work) ... very soon you could get the line "if you have a house you need to register, prove how you dispose of your rubbish!" ...

Andy From Sligo

and if it proves that rubbish dumped on bog roads or road verges and streams or places of beauty that the rubbish is dumped from people who dont have an eircode? - or who are visitors to the area? or not resident in Sligo .. what then? - how is that going to be tackled?

Fann Linn

dollylama wrote: »

I read it that every householder will have to register with a licensed waste collector, providing your eircode in the process. If you take waste to a council disposal site, you have to give your eircode to the guy at the gate!

I assume that the council will then compile a list of eircodes that aren't registered with any waste collector and the knocks on the door will follow. This will be a recurring process I imagine

I'll post a link to the story if I find it again. It was a propoganda piece by the council



http://www.sligococo.ie/FeaturedContent/PilotProject-EircodesInvestigation/

What about data protection? Why should a service provider give details of its customers to a third party?

mobil 222

Black Bart wrote: »

First of all Victor last months dinner should not be in amongst this weeks recycling, I'm talking about bringing my recycling (not general waste) down to Greenstar on a Saturday morning, I will have it cleaned and dry and separated before I put it into separate skips, I then have to pay the guy at the gate for the pleasure in doing so, then his boss makes a profit on this by selling it on.

Concerning bringing your recycling to Finisklin just make sure you get a receipt.
From what I here the council will be checking with greenstar etc on who does have their recycling collected.

I for one use the recycling facility every Month so I will be one of those checked because i don't have it collected.
I will probably be asked what I do with it and if I have proof of using the faciiity
So you can see how important your receipt will be.

Fann Linn

mobil 222 wrote: »

Concerning bringing your recycling to Finisklin just make sure you get a receipt.
From what I here the council will be checking with greenstar etc on who does have their recycling collected.

I for one use the recycling facility every Month so I will be one of those checked because i don't have it collected.
I will probably be asked what I do with it and if I have proof of using the faciiity
So you can see how important your receipt will be.

I can understand the need for a TV licence and having the proof, but wherevis the law that says you need a receipt from a landfill?

dingding

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

maybe waste disposal companies should be unprofitable state / council owned rather than run by companies who make a business and profit out of it?

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/greenstar-in-receivership-sparking-fears-for-800-jobs-26890183.html

Might be better now but was not profitable in the past.

dingding

Fann Linn wrote: »

dollylama wrote: »

I read it that every householder will have to register with a licensed waste collector, providing your eircode in the process. If you take waste to a council disposal site, you have to give your eircode to the guy at the gate!

I assume that the council will then compile a list of eircodes that aren't registered with any waste collector and the knocks on the door will follow. This will be a recurring process I imagine

I'll post a link to the story if I find it again. It was a propoganda piece by the council



http://www.sligococo.ie/FeaturedContent/PilotProject-EircodesInvestigation/

What about data protection? Why should a service provider give details of its customers to a third party?

If there is a statutory basis for the request.  There is a lot of data sharing between agencies.

dingding

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

and if it proves that rubbish dumped on bog roads or road verges and streams or places of beauty that the rubbish is dumped from people who dont have an eircode? - or who are visitors to the area? or not resident in Sligo .. what then? - how is that going to be tackled?

Every residence has a unique eircode.  By discovering if each residence has either reciepts for disposal or a contract with a refuse company, then the eircodes that have neither can be targeted.  It ideutifies houses that don't have an arrangement to dispose of refuse.  It is a step in the right direction.  It wont prevent snack boxes littering the countryside, however it should cut back on the dumping of domestic refuse.

Fann Linn

dingding wrote: »

If there is a statutory basis for the request.  There is a lot of data sharing between agencies.

Is there a statutory basis however? Denis Naughten announced a lot of capital expenditure but I don't recall him introducing legislation. He could start by increasing the litter fine from €150 which has been in place in 1997.