WEST Cork councillors welcomed the launch of Cork County Council’s Litter Clean Up Challenge, but called for new ways of dealing with litter on the county’s 1,350km regional and 450km national roads.
The Council’s Anti-Litter Challenge involves communities competing, and being scored by judges, based on the presence or absence of litter on their roads and streets.
The challenge is popular with tidy towns groups, community organisations and environmentally conscious volunteers who work tirelessly to keep their communities’ litter free.
But, Cllr Daniel Sexton (Ind Ire) tabled a motion at a recent Western Committee meeting calling on the local authority to adopt a roadside litter cleaning campaign.
‘Before the introduction of the plastic bag levy,’ he said, ‘you would see plastic bags hanging off every ditch, but the plastic bag levy put a stop to that.’
Now, he said the problem is takeaway wrappers and disposable coffee cups. ‘It’s something we all see every day of the week, and the problem is getting worse.’
Cllr Sexton said the cutting of roadside vegetation has revealed ‘historic’ rubbish and he suggested that the Council should organise ‘a day of action’ to tackle the problem.
Cllr John Michael Foley (FG), a farmer, supported the motion saying he saw a van driver pull up to his field and throw rubbish over the ditch.
‘I see dumping, day in, day out,’ said the councillor who described all forms of dumping as ‘despicable behaviour.’
Cllr Ann Bambury (SD) suggested that the Council could kill two birds with one stone if a clean-up could be incorporated into landscaping contracts.
She also made the point that takeaway businesses ‘need to take responsibility as well.’
