Reports of illegal dumping have been on the rise since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and one council worker is blunt when he describes those responsible.
"I call them UIFs – uneducated ignorant fools," says Alan Nolan, a community litter warden with Meath County Council. Nolan condemns those who regularly blight the countryside, especially during restrictions when less people are out and about, making it easier to dump in secret.
While council workers around the country scramble to clean up the mess, they are hampered by an inability to use CCTV to help catch the perpetrators.
Local authorities that have attempted to use CCTV to crack down on illegal dumpers have been reprimanded by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) which has found that there is no legal basis for using CCTV in such campaigns.
A Bill put forward by the Labour Party that seeks to remedy this was not opposed by the Government in the Seanad earlier this month. However, it is likely that any change to the law will have to wait for the Government's Circular Economy Bill – aimed at setting new targets to tackle waste – which is not due for enactment until the second half of the year.
The are many reasons for the increase in number of reports of illegal dumping. Restrictions may have made some people more confident about dumping illegally, believing that no one will see them. Some argue that people frustrated at being stuck at home have decided to clear out attics and do not care how waste is disposed. Others argue that it has been made worse because fewer volunteers are out cleaning up litter blackspots.
On a typical Monday before Covid-19, Nolan says he would receive up to eight calls reporting illegal dumping. Today, the number of calls he receives at the beginning of a week can exceed 20.
Rather than paying €120 for a skip provided by an authorised rubbish collector, some householders, says Nolan, are paying rogue operators advertising online as little as €50 to get rid of their waste.
"And they're just dumping it indiscriminately on the side of the road," he says. He urges people to check that the waste collector they have hired is registered and listed on the National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO) website.
Using unauthorised operators can backfire if the waste dumped can be tracked back to the person – such as through a discarded utility bill. The person who paid for its disposal can face a fixed penalty notice of €150 or up to €3,000 in court.
‘Lack of cameras’
Catching the unauthorised collectors is more difficult, he says.
Suspected perpetrators have given false names and addresses when confronted by council staff. Once, the registration plate of a van used in dumping was found to have been copied from a tractor registered in another county.
Nolan expresses frustration that CCTV is not an option for local authorities: “I could name five roads I could go to tomorrow and find rubbish on them. It’s the lack of cameras that’s doing this. It’s not allowing us to catch these guys.”
Last year, two local authorities Kerry County Council and Waterford City and County Council were reprimanded by the DPC for using CCTV to detect litter offences.
The DPC found that existing litter pollution and waste management laws do not provide for using CCTV for this purpose as they do not regulate the processing of personal data under data protection laws.
The DPC said its investigation of local authorities was part of a wider set of inquiries under the Data Protection Act 2018 into surveillance of citizens by the State for law enforcement purposes through the use of CCTV, body-worn cameras, automatic number plate recognition and drones.
A DPC spokeswoman said that while there is a perception by many that surveillance has become the norm, it does not diminish the obligations placed on organisations processing personal data through these means.
The County and City Management Association (CCMA) – a group of senior executives from local authorities that has been engaging with the DPC – wants to use CCTV as a tool to combat illegal dumping.
A CCMA spokeswoman said it “believes audio-visual recording equipment to be an important option for local authorities in tackling illegal dumping”.
‘Through the roof’
Labour Party Senator Mark Wall has suggested illegal dumping is costing the State €90 million a year and has put forward legislation in the Seanad aimed at providing a legal basis for CCTV to be used.
He said illegal dumping incidents have "gone through the roof" in his own home county, Kildare, but "every corner of this country is under attack at the moment".
Mr Wall said that he respects that the DPC has to do its job but he adds “those who go out and damage our country need to be prosecuted”. He said: “We cannot wait any longer to have CCTV on a legal footing”.
The Department of the Environment said it is aware of an increase in the number of reports of illegal dumping and pointed to more than €10 million in supports it allocated to local authorities to help tackle the issue last year.
It said the Circular Economy Bill is to be used to provide the legal basis for the use of CCTV and other technologies to detect and prosecute illegal dumping in a way that is GDPR compliant.
The department said Government approval will be sought to prepare the general scheme of the Bill “shortly”. “We will then be prioritising the remaining drafting processes to allow for enactment in the second half of 2021.”
Mr Wall said this is “too late” and said his party’s Bill should be enacted – with amendments if necessary – before the summer.
He said: “We cannot let another summer go where the countryside is being destroyed.”
