City areas aiming to fight back against illegal dumping

Residents living in areas of the city that have become dumping grounds for litter are ready to fight back.

Mayor David Fitzgerald, who is a member of Keep Kilkenny Beautiful, visited one of the back lanes after a meeting with the residents associations of Dean Kavanagh Place and Fr Albert Place in which locals tried to come up with solutions to the problem.

“I was taken aback by what has been going on there,” he said afterwards in regards to the amount of litter discarded there on an “on-going basis.”

“People, according to the residents association, are driving into the area with vans and trailers to dump their waste there,” he said.

“The other issue,” he said, “is the level of alcohol waste, including cans and bottles, which is enormous.”

“It is an indication of the significant drink problem in the city. The biggest and most common form of litter found by Keep Kilkenny Beautiful is disused bottles and cans of alcohol, not soft drinks,” he said. “The alcohol issue is prevalent all over the city.”

“We are trying to work on steps we can take to deal with the problem through Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and Kilkenny local authorities,” the mayor said.