Meath Co. Council is investigating the illegal dumping of over 3,000 waste tyres on forest land by 'unscrupulous waste collectors'
It is understood the tyres were dumped on private land near Longwood village last Thursday night/Friday morning
The landowner is now facing a hefty clean up bill of an estimated €7,000 and the council is urging all private owners to secure their properties with gates and fences.
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In a statement the council say; "The waste tyres would have been generated by tyre suppliers and/or fitters and dumped by unscrupulous waste collectors collecting waste.
"The Council estimates that in excess of 3,000 waste tyres have been dumped at this location which will cost over €7,000 euro to collect.
"The private landowner is being contacted to advise them of the dumping as they will be responsible for the clean-up costs as it occurred on private land. Meath County Council would urge landowners to secure their land with locked gates and fencing to deter this activity from occurring.
"If your business sells tyres – your garage MUST be registered with Circol ELT’, see www.circolelt.ie. Please ensure that you only transfer waste including waste tyres to authorised waste collectors. Always ask for proof of waste collection permit and retain documentation for waste tyres collected."
The Council's Senior Executive Engineer Declan Grimes has also asked any motorist who may have noticed anything suspicious or have dash cam coverage to contact the council
"The R160 Trim to Longwood regional Road is a very busy route and Coillte and private landowners have forests along the route.
"The area is very visible and a large truck would have had to be used and would have had to reverse onto the site to dump all the tyres which are stacked about 25m in length.
"Whoever drove the truck took a risk of being bogged down in muddy land and of being seen.
"A member of the local fire services noticed the tyres while driving by and reported it to Meath Co. Council with concerns that if they went on fire, the flames could easily spread to the surrounding forests. Meath Co. Council carried out an immediate inspection of the area and notified all parties concerned."
Last September, the council had to undertake a clean-up of 117 tyres and car parts were dumped on a rural roadside in Kentstown, only weeks after 50 tyres, 23 five-gallon and three 45 gallon barrels of oil were discarded outside Dunshaughlin.
If anyone has any information regarding this illegal dumping incident, please contact Meath County Council Environment Section on 046 9097200 or email environment@meathcoco.ie.
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