Cork City Council received hundreds of complaints about illegal dumping last year

Two trampolines, a sink, a raw leg of lamb, a car seat, fish heads, fridges, and more than 20 mattresses were among the items illegally dumped in the city that council staff were alerted to in 2025.

Cork City Council received 850 complaints about illegal dumping, littering, and dog fouling from the start of January 2025 to mid-November, according to records provided to The Echo on foot of a freedom of information request.

Hundreds of these complaints were about dog faeces with one complainant saying that there was “an abundance of dog fouling” in Errigal Heights, The Glen. 

Others said this occurred frequently in the area, while one person reported someone regularly dumping bags of dog faeces. 

There were also four separate reports of human faeces, all in the city centre, with callers reporting incidents at South Mall, Lapps Quay, Washington St, and Dominick St.

Many of the complaints requested a litter pick to deal with a build-up of small items, but the majority of the complaints were to do with fly tipping, with large items being dumped.

There were also hundreds of complaints about full bin bags of rubbish.

Trolleys were another popular receptacle for disposing of litter, as more than 10 people reported a discarded trolley full of rubbish.

Furniture

Furniture was also a popular item to dump, including two burnt out mattresses in Hollyhill and Mayfield.

There were more than 20 dumped mattresses reported, as well as a full bed unit, pieces of bed frames, sleeping bags, bedding, and numerous pieces of furniture including a kitchen sink.

Electrical goods were also common, with the log provided by the council mentioning four fridges, three TVs, a Sky box, an engine, wire cables, an old electric fire, three washing machines, and one dryer.

There were also hundreds of complaints about food waste. Two people called to raise the issue of fish heads on Wellington Avenue, while another notified the council of a raw leg of lamb on Ballyhooly Rd.

Many callers alerted the council to dumped toys, while a few reported prams, one a car seat, and two trampolines. Four reports were made about bikes, and one about a tricycle. There were also numerous complaints of clothing being dumped, as well as three about suitcases.

Christmas tree

One caller reported that they had seen someone cut down a tree and then dump it, while another reported a dumped Christmas tree, and a third reported an array of Christmas decorations.

Bricks, tyres, timber, palets, wooden floorboards, iron, boards, pipes, gravel, bricks and building site waste were also reported as being illegally dumped, while three people reported barrels or tanks of oil. 

Glass bottles and broken glass were another of the most frequent complaints, as was rubbish that had been burnt, with many people also saying that illegal dumping in their area was a frequent issue.

One person in Victoria Cross described the illegal dumping in the area as “consistent and persistent”, while another said they had been living near Glen River Park for just a year, and in that time, there had been seven incidents of rubbish being burnt.

Another caller in Fair Hill said they were frequently targeted by “vandals urinating and dropping junk food in our cul de sac”.

Many of the complainants expressed concern about the unsanitary nature of the dumping, with several mentioning having seen rats around waste.