10 Years of PURE Project

 

 The PURE project, a unique environmental partnership in Ireland which incorporates statutory and non-statutory organisations, has had an extremely busy start this year.  In January alone it has removed over 90 tons of illegal dumping.  Commenting on recent dumping incidents, Ian Davis, the manager of PURE stated,

“We have received a huge number of reports of illegal dumping and this looks like it will be one of the busiest years for the project since we started 10 years ago.  One incident alone filled the entire PURE truck and consisted of mattresses, beds, floor boards, couches, and a considerable amount of domestic waste, with close to 4 tonnes of household rubbish dumped at the site. We are appealing to householders not to hand over their waste to unauthorised waste collectors and to check that they have a legitimate waste collection permit, because if they don’t have one, it will be dumped in the mountains and the householder is also responsible”.

The PURE Truck collected over 1000 sites in 2015 and removed over 235 tonnes of illegal dumping.  All dumping incidents are recorded on a GPS/GIS database system and from this PURE has built up a baseline data on dumping patterns and locations.  If you were to put all the rubbish that PURE has collected into standard household rubbish bags you would fill over 370,000 bags and they would stretch the same distance as a journey from Glendalough to Dingle in County Kerry. 

PURE believe that the fast removal of illegal dumping/fly-tipping from the landscape reduces further dumping at a site.  Some people think that it is acceptable to dump – dumping attracts dumping.  Prior to the removal of dumping all incidents are investigated by the relevant local authority’s Environmental Enforcement Officers. In 2015 Wicklow County Council had a number of successful prosecutions in the courts.  In some cases, offenders were fined over €3,000 and they were also made pay for the legal fees (over €2,000). 

The PURE Mile community initiative proves to be very successful.  Through the PURE Mile competition communities keep a mile stretch of road (approx. 1.6 km) rubbish free.  The competition has developed into a very important part of conserving our regional and national environmental heritage.  For more info visit www.pureproject.ie/the-pure-mile. 

The project is due to finish at the end of this year but PURE are optimistic that they will receive further funding from The Department of Environment Community and Local Government to continue the fight against illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands. 

Further information on PURE can be found on www.pureproject.ie  Please continue reporting illegal dumping in the Dublin/Wicklow Uplands on 1850 365 121.