Flytipping : Gov. promises €3m to prevent illegal dumping.
Applications now open to €3m Fund (1 – 30th April)
The Government today announced funding of €3million to the Anti-Dumping Initiative. This will support communities around the country to tackle illegal dumping, the so-called ‘flytipping’.
This money will step up the chances of catching the flytipping offenders and will provide help to those who want to do the right thing. The programme enlists the support of communities and local authorities in a concerted drive to clean up and prevent the practice.
Just like in 2017, and 2018 surveillance using drones, CCTV , special collections for awkward items like mattresses, spreading awareness among young people and recognizing the work of volunteers will all be done.
This year, 2019, a special emphasis will be on targeting blackspots.
2019 Funding is increasing to €3million this year, a 50% increase on last year. This is in addition to the €7.4m annual enforcement grant, which supports the recruitment and retention of 150 local authority waste enforcement personnel across the country.
METRICS and RESULTS.
Since 2017, the ADI programme has removed some 5,000 tonnes of illegal waste from some of the country’s most notorious fly tipping black-spots. According to the Dept. in the vast majority of cases, once a community takes action in a particular area, re-offending becomes highly unlikely. Nearly half of the funding being announced will go towards tackling black-spots. Collected tonnage is an easy measure to show. So are costs, a lot of which go on Local authority staff and waste contractors.
It’s like measuring how many bags of plastic have you taken out of the sea. There is still lots more remaining. The real impact is on prevention of future dumping and here the stats are very scarce, like the number of convictions achieved or reports filed by the public.
While value for money on prevention stats are scarce, we in Zero Waste Alliance Ireland have seen re-offending in many instances after cleanups completed. Persistence and convictions must be pursued relentlessly to get long term results.
The measure of success of this programme will be in the need to have another one in 2020 or not! ( Warning: We’ve had repeat programmes for a few years already.)
EDUCATION MISTARGET?
We would question the need to continually provide education programmes at the primary school level. We know these pupils are already more environmentally conscious and aware than the older generation. How many school children have you seen flytipping recently?
We need to spend the education portion in a far more targeted way – using direct posters and social media channels to impact the decision makers at small firms and households.
Some name and shame efforts would also help to unveil offenders.
LAST YEAR’S PROJECTS.
Large and small scale fly tipping is pervasive in Ireland
Under the 2018 Anti-Dumping Initiative, €2 million was made available to local authorities and communities. Details of the projects funded under 2018 Anti-Dumping Initiative are available here. The majority of the money went on community level cleanups, mattress amnesties and media campaigns.
In 2017, the Department provided funding of €1.3 million for the initiative. This resulted in the successful delivery of over 200 projects across all 31 local authority areas. It served to put the topic of illegal dumping on the agenda for communities across the country.
In 2018, €2 million was made available for a programme. It placed an increased emphasis on all actors who facilitate the unauthorised movement and disposal of waste. Over 200 projects received funding.
Applications are open from April 1st and will close on the 30th of April 2019. Interested applicants can find more information below.
Circular WP02.19 Appendix I Form
Circular WP02.19 Appendix II Criteria
Funding is available for: PREVENTION Physical infrastructure – signage, fencing, lighting and barriers at identified black-spots and sites at riskUp to 90 Community Preservation Projects – funding to beautification projects that do not have existing funding sources.Up to 50 Bulky Waste (e.g. mattresses) Collection eventsEDUCATION Awareness CampaignsEducation Programme expanded to all primary schools in the countryABATEMENT Black Spot Clean ups & surveillanceRoll out of Eircodes Household Waste Compliance Project to all 31 Local AuthoritiesENFORCEMENT Roll out of Test Purchases Project to all 31 Local Authorities Monitoring and surveillance equipment including drones Development of Dumping Data Base
https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/environment/topics/waste/enforcement/anti-dumping-initiative
About the The Anti-Dumping Initiative
The Programme for Government contains a specific commitment to work with local authorities to tackle the problem of illegal dumping. It aims to develop effective deterrents to discourage people from engaging in this anti-social behaviour.
The overall aim is to reduce incidents of illegal dumping nationally. It provides funding for projects tackling the problem. These include the provision of support for monitoring and surveillance of dumping blackspots. It also builds an integrated and effective approach to dealing with this issue using a collaborative approach with local authorities, communities and other state agencies.