Councillors from across the county are pleading with the public to stop littering the county and asking council officials if there are any untried solutions to littering.
The matter was raised at the monthly meeting of the full council in Nenagh yesterday. Director of Services for the Environment and Climate Action section Eamon Lonergan describes the current levels of littering as a “blight on the county” and says the meeting should be considering more strategic environment issues rather than litter.
Mr Lonergan expressed some hope that a new levy on single use coffee cups and the planned Deposit Return Scheme for cans and plastic bottles might help in the longer term.
Tipperary will revise it’s Litter Management Plan this year and Mr Lonergan encouraged councillors to be proactive.
The current Litter Management Plan can be viewed here.
Suggestions made at the meeting included more education in schools, engagement with food retailers and Gardaí, “Pick your Parish event” and Cllr John Fitzgerald asked if there was some way that land owners at could be rewarded for helping to keep areas clean but that it was not their responsibility.
Cllrs also asked for greater use of covert CCTV and drones to tackle illegal dumping and a hard hitting information campaign to make littering socially unacceptable.
Virtually every councillor highlighted how dangerous it was to litter pick busy approach roads. Communities were also encouraged to take part in the An Taisce Spring Clean programme scheduled for next month.
