Environmental Services

Litter is one of the most persistent environmental problems facing Sligo County Council. The Environment Section encourages community involvement in combating the detrimental effects of this problem on the environment.

Every year Sligo County Council holds an Anti Litter Awareness competition along with educational talks provided by our Litter Warden in schools in the county to raise awareness among young people.

In 2001 a full time Litter Warden, Aiden Feeney, was appointed in Sligo County Council and a van was provided which has given a higher profile to this important service. The Litter Warden service is provided outside working hours and at weekends and the warden is contactable by phone; the number is displayed on side of the van.

The National Litter Pollution Monitoring System commenced in 2001; the purpose of this system is to enable Local Authorities to generate accurate and reliable statistics relating to litter pollution levels in their own functional area. Sligo County Council has completed the three phases of the system for Year 1 and the results have been submitted to the Monitoring body for their analysis and reporting.

- Local residents at a beach clean up in Enniscrone.

Funding of £10,000 was provided to Sligo County Council under the Anti Litter Initiatives Grant for 2001 to co-fund public education and awareness initiatives against litter. Individuals or Groups were invited to submit projects for funding which focus on litter awareness, education and prevention. Six groups were successful in receiving funding.

Sligo County Council launched the ”Pooper Scooper“ in 2001, a device to combat the problem of dog fouling and this is provided free of charge to the dog owners in Sligo.

A review took place in 2001 of the Litter Management Plan for Sligo County Council/Corporation and the Council adopted a revised document in November 2001 for a three-year period. The amended plan aims to establish and develop partnerships with the community, provide educational seminars and undertake measures to control and prevent the occurrence of litter in County Sligo for example:

• The presence of the Garda Siochana on patrols with the Litter Warden
• The application of the ”polluter pays principle” in court prosecutions to include the costs of cleaning sites in cases with litter offenders
• A name and shame campaign – identifying offenders and those who have not paid fines.
• The continued and increased funding of schemes such as Tidy Towns Competition, Anti-litter Awareness Campaigns, a bumper anti-litter competition and ”Pooper Scoopers”

The National Spring Clean Campaign took place in June 2001 and over 90 groups took part in clean up campaigns and was one of the most successful clean up events to date.

Tidy Towns
2001 proved to be a challenging year for our Tidy Towns Competition with the outbreak of the "Foot and Mouth" disease in Northern Ireland. This did not deter the local committees in the county from striving to improve their marks. Sligo County Council provided funding for the Tidy Towns competition. Submissions were received from all Tidy Towns Groups and funding was provided to applicants who attempted to address problem areas within their towns/villages and in particular areas identified by the Tidy Town’s Judging Committee in previous years’ competitions.

In 2001 Sligo had three new entrants to the competition, all receiving very impressive results for their first attempt. The results in the county have all increased highlighting the commitment and determination of our community groups in the county.

Environmental Campaign
In 2001 a full time Environmental Services Co-ordinator, Alice O’ Rourke, was appointed in the Environment Section to focus on Education and Awareness initiatives in the county. Alice organises seminars on areas such as Composting, Recycling and Waste Management to Community groups and schools in the county. It is widely recognised that success of any waste management plan requires considerable emphasis on public awareness and acceptance of environmental sustainability, and the Environmental Services Co-ordinator helps to achieve this.

The Environment Section is also involved in An Taisce’s Green Schools campaign, which is targeted at schools to help students recognise the importance of environmental issues. To date 3 schools in Sligo have been awarded in the Green Flag in recognition of their efforts in environmental activity. Talks and seminars are organised to help schools in achieving their targets under the programme.

Local Environmental Partnership Fund 2001
This fund seeks to promote action by local and community organisations, in partnership with local authorities, in the area of environmental protection. The overall aim of the campaign is to encourage people to identify and pursue environmentally sustainable behaviour, so that action at individual and community levels fully reflects public concern about the environment. Total funding of £10,000 was provided to 6 groups in the county.

- Pupils at Mary Immaculate Girls National School, Collooney, taking part in a ‘Fashion Parade‘ made out of recycled material.

Home Composting
The Environment Section is providing Home Composting units to householders in the county in an effort to divert organic waste away from landfill. The Section is strongly promoting composting as a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative to landfilling organic household and green waste. By composting you can reduce your waste output by one third. Bins are provided at a subsidised rate of €30 and nearly 1,500 were provided in 2001.

Bring Bank Facilities
Bring bank facilities are provided in 14 key locations in the county and by the end of 2001 an order was in place for Plastic banks, a much needed facility for the diversion of plastic bottles away from landfill. Surveys also took place in 2001 to investigate potential new sites for bring banks so that provision could be made in the estimates for 2002.

All bring bank sites are currently on an upgrade rota in an attempt to improve the visual appearance of each facility and ensure easier maintenance.