Tipperary County Council can assist families struggling with waste disposal

The council can assist households struggling to pay for waste collection. According to the Administrative Officer in the environment section, Orla Kelly, the council can organise for households to share collection.

Ms Kelly was responding to a query by councillor Peggy Ryan at last week’s sitting of Thurles-Templemore Municipal District Council, who asked if there was a mechanism outside of the court system to assist in hardship cases.

Cllr Ryan also asked if there was other information on people found to be non-compliant in the waste survey.

Ms Kelly said those may include people they are awaiting a response from. Firstly, the household will be issued a notice, and then they are given time to respond.

If not answered, they are issued with a fine, and if that is not paid, they can be taken to court.

She said that sometimes people cannot access a refuse service.

For those people, they can take their refuse to a civic amenity centre, and the receipts can be used as evidence of proper waste collection.

According to this month’s Management Report to the Council, 83% of Tipperary households surveyed were compliant, well above the national average of 75%.

INSPECTIONS

Cllr Noel Coonan asked what the procedure is if someone finds a bag of waste. That bag he said can burst, and the contents travel, fouling a wider area than where it was dumped.

He called it an “awful scourge.”

Cllr Coonan also wanted to know what the procedure was for tenants who build up refuse in their back gardens.

The environment section’s Ruairí Boland agreed that litter is a scourge but said the council is to organise a litter campaign which they hope will help address the issue.

Additionally, he said that when a bag is collected, there are people who go through them looking for evidence of its owner. If found, that person can be pursued through the courts.

According to the management report as of June 19, eight cases resulted in successful convictions.

On the issue of backyard build-up, Mr Boland said the council only intervene where it is a health and safety risk.