Asbestos in sand dunes among rubbish dumped illegally in Mayo

A NUMBER of targeted anti-dumping initiatives have yielded results around Mayo.

'Discoveries' included asbestos dumped in sand dunes, which led to one councillor to wonder for the health of the person who dismantled and left it there.

Mayo County Council received €127,000 under the national anti-dumping initiative this year, which was spent on six specific projects, outlined by Patsy Winters, executive scientist, at a meeting of the authority's environment committee.

One project involved installing audio warning devices at bottle banks experiencing littering issues. They resulted in a noticeable decrease.

A shoreline clean took place on Lough Conn where the removal of what was a relatively small amount of waste had a big impact.

Two active dumping sites in the Kilmaine and Irishtown areas were targeted. Between the clean-ups and letters sent to local property owners, dumping has now ceased.

A number of sites were also addressed in the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, with asbestos found in sand dunes at one site, costing €22,000 for their safe removal.

This led Councillor Donna Sheridan to wonder if the person who dumped it realised the health implications for themselves, as well as the environment, saying they were 'huge'.

The council's bonfire prevention and bulky waste collection projects are both yielding results.

Ms. Winters said in the last number of years there has been a steady reduction in the number of bonfires the council has had to remove as their message of encouraging timber and green materials has taken effect.