The quantity of
household and commercial waste disposed of annually by local authorities is estimated at
1.1 million tonnes. The cost of disposing of this waste is a drain on the resources of
local authorities in terms of landfill sites, transport and manpower, and there is also
the loss to the economy of the valuable materials which are dumped.
Despite the work of the local authorities,
a large portion of the country’s waste ends up as unsightly litter on our roadsides,
strewn across the open countryside and clogging the waterways.
This has serious consequences for our
tourism industry by making our countryside unattractive to visitors. The cost of cleaning
up litter is considerable. It costs nine times more to sweep up a tonne of
litter from the streets compared with collecting it from households.
In recent months all the communities in the
Tir Na Mona area have been involved in local clean-ups. This has involved a lot of time
and effort on the part of those doing the clean-up as well as the assistance of the County
Council in providing skips.
All this time and effort is wasted if those
doing the littering don’t change their habits and that means all of US.
Litter is the responsibility of all of us and that is why we have been doing the
clean-ups, but how much better it would be if the litter wasn’t there in the first
place? You can help by:
Not dropping litter.
Teaching your children not to drop it and encouraging them to bring their litter home for
proper disposal.
Not leaving rubbish bags unsecured, especially in windy conditions.
Not leaving rubbish bags out overnight when animals scavenge.
Collecting and disposing of plastic bags that you have used in the fields.
Helping with the clean-ups in your area.
