There has been an 11% increase in the number of calls reporting illegal dumping during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Every county, city, town and village across Ireland is being called upon to join the fight against illegal dumping through a new communications campaign, “Your Country - Your Waste”, launched today (Friday November 13, 2020) by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD.

The “Your Country - Your Waste” campaign has been developed as part of the 2020 Anti-Dumping Initiative,* and includes a tailored suite of information and awareness messaging for use by Local Authorities, community and voluntary groups during 2020 and into 2021. It will begin with a week-long social media campaign on mywaste.ie's** social media platforms.

Speaking at the launch Minister Ryan said, “Earlier this year, my Department provided €3 million for the 2020 National Anti-Dumping Initiative which will fund over 300 projects to tackle the problem of illegal dumping. Illegal dumping negatively impacts our communities, destroys our environment and costs significant exchequer funding to remove. The “Your Country - Your Waste” campaign delivers on a commitment made in the enforcement chapter of the recently-published Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy. It will highlight relevant contact numbers and email addresses to help make it easy for people to report illegal dumping. The campaign will enhance collaboration between the public and the relevant authorities on awareness raising and in taking action.”

There has been an 11% increase in the number of calls reporting illegal dumping during the Covid 19 pandemic. This year, €1 million of the Anti -Dumping Initiative allocation was ring fenced to deal with particular issues arising from the Covid-19 crisis. The increase in the number of reports received through the National Complaints Procedure by city and county councils indicates that people do not want illegal dumping or fly tipping in their counties, cities, towns, villages or countryside and are willing to assist in combatting this behaviour.

Brian White, Coordinator for WERLA, Eastern Midlands Region said, “As illegal dumping complaints are on the rise, the public are encouraged to inform Local Authorities of instances of illegal dumping activity, which can then be followed up and investigated thoroughly.

“Materials produced as part of this campaign, will be utilised by both local authorities and local and voluntary community groups and will visually highlight the negative aspect of illegal dumping and encourage citizens to report incidences of illegal dumping to their local authority,” he said.

He also advised, “Waste services continue to operate normally during the pandemic and householders should ensure that they only use an authorised waste collector or their local civic amenity or recycling centre to dispose of household waste.”

For more information on campaign materials please go to mywaste.ie.

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