It would be of great assistance if the Waste Facility at Dunmore was open for more user friendly opening hours, currently 08:30 - 12:00 (effectively) on Saturdays is extremely limiting. Saturdays are...
3.4 Litter Enforcement
Closed5 Jan, 2018, 9:00am - 2 Feb, 2018, 5:00pm
There is a dedicated enforcement team to deal with litter and waste management issues. Their duties are reported annually to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) by the submission of the Recommended Minimum Criteria for Environmental Inspection (RMCEI) Plan. Refer to Appendix 3 to review enforcement projects completed in the last plan period.
Illegal Dumping Initiative Project 2017
Funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment, Kilkenny County Council received an allocation of €25,562 to help target a series of black spots in rural and urban areas, resulting in 63 recorded incidences which were pursued to secure litter fines and prosecutions. This targeted approach yielded better results and new techniques deployed will be used in the future. Below is a sample advert which featured in local papers to highlight the initiative. (Munster Express Oct. 2017)
In 2016, there were over 700 routine litter inspections in both the city and county in addition to 200 routine bottle bank inspections and 15 bank ATM surveys. In addition to routine inspections, the Environment section completes non routine inspections from environmental complaints made by the public.
The public can make a complaint by phoning the Council’s dedicated litter line 1800-200-156; alternatively, complaints can be emailed to litter@kilkennycoco.ie. The Council cannot investigate complaints that are reported via social media as details of the complaint are usually incomplete. Kilkenny County Council works in partnership with the national hotline number (1850 365 121) operated by the EPA and their mobile app “See Something, Say Something”. Every complaint logged on these platforms must be investigated within three weeks.
In 2016, 768 public complaints recorded in the Environment Section were litter related. All complaints are investigated by our enforcement team. Illegal dumping incidences on public land are subsequently cleaned.
In 2016, 23 litter fines were issued. This relatively low number of fines grossly under represents the level of work completed by the enforcement team. The lack of evidence to identify offenders is the greatest barrier to successful prosecutions. No prosecutions were secured in 2016. The lack of positive enforcement outcomes needs to be addressed.
Table 3.4 Enforcement Actions
|
Action No. |
Description |
Expected Completion Date |
|
EA1 |
Continue information campaign, door to door inspections and surveillance along problematic laneways to tackle illegal dumping in the city centre |
Ongoing |
|
EA2 |
Establish & foster relationships with maintenance contractors of motorways to combat illegal dumping/littering at motorway lay-bys |
Ongoing |
|
EA3 |
Carry out daily high visibility litter patrols in urban areas and procure a special uniform so patrollers are easily identifiable by the general public |
Ongoing |
|
EA4 |
Develop infrastructure at all bottle banks to facilitate the placement of CCTV cameras |
2018 |
|
EA5 |
Develop ‘black spot mapping system’ by improving the use of GIS to identify suitable CCTV monitoring locations to deter illegal dumpers in rural locations |
Ongoing |
|
EA6 |
Identify black spot locations suitable for surveillance and engage professional operators in line with regional policy. |
Ongoing |
|
EA7 |
Review the advancement of technology and deploy best practice to apprehend litter louts & seek capital investment for critical enforcement technology. |
Supporting Policies
-
Kilkenny County Council will work with both regional and national enforcement agencies to collaborate on enforcement activities and to implement best enforcement practices to increase positive outcomes for litter & waste enforcement.
-
Enforcement actions listed in the Litter Management Plan will tie in with the annual RMCEI plan which is returned to the EPA for approval annually.
Contents
Observations
Observations