Call to renew CCTV at Cork estate to stop 'vicious cycle' of illegal dumping

Councillor Oliver Moran has said that CCTV should be renewed in Orchard Court estate in Blackpool, where a “vicious cycle” of [url=

https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41888587.html]illegal dumping[/url] has been highlighted.

A spokesperson for Cork City Council’s waste enforcement unit told Mr Moran that the most recent dumping highlighted in The Echo, including leather furniture, a bedframe and mattress and multiple shopping trolleys, had been investigated by the council and cleared away.

“Evidence was found connecting five individuals to the waste, and Cork City Council is in the process of issuing fines,” said the spokesperson. 

They told Mr Moran that CCTV operated at the site between August 5 to December 19 last year.

“It recorded 103 incidents of littering/dumping. However, all of these were pedestrians (rather than from vehicles) and could not be identified,” they said.

“Enforcement staff will be making door-to-door inquiries to properties in Orchard Court and the surrounding area. Bye-laws require that all residents have a contact with a waste disposal company or can prove how they are otherwise disposing of their waste. A fine can be issued if a household is not able to demonstrate this.”

Clear message needed

Mr Moran said it needed to be made clear to anyone that if you dump rubbish like this, “you will be caught”.

“That takes effort to investigate and it’s another way that we all pay for fly-tippers.

“It’s not only the environmental costs and the way a neighbourhood is brought down. It’s the price put on us all by taking staff away from other work, staff who collect the waste and those who investigate it and issue the fines, said Mr Moran.

“Unfortunately, there’s a vicious cycle that can take hold. When an area is known for illegal dumping, that can attract more, as more people outside of an area know it’s a place where they think they can get away with it, and that someone else will pick it up for them.

“There’s evidence now that Orchard Court is attracting waste from home renovation work. That’s a reason to renew CCTV in the area, which will catch someone unloading waste from vans,” he added.

“There’s a responsibility for homeowners too. It’s tempting to ask someone doing work for you if they’ll take waste away with them afterwards or to look for an unlicensed ‘man with a van’.

“That’s where dumping like this comes from too, so we all need to be mindful that it doesn’t end up being our waste that can be thrown somewhere like this.”