Environmental Service

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Bring Banks, Textile Banks and Recycling and Composting Facilities

The following facilities will continue to be made available to the public:

 Bring Banks (x 44 sites)  Textile Banks  Recycling Centre Tubbercurry  Ballisodare Composting Facility

The bring bank in Carraroe was completed in December 2020.

Casual Trading

The Casual Trading Act 1955 covers open air trading of goods at designated bays throughout the County of Sligo. The Environment Section enforces the Casual Trading Bye-Laws 2018 in order to regulate casual trading on public property. Regular inspections will continue to be carried out by the Council’s appointed Trading Officers to ensure that the trading bays are being operated in accordance with legislation.

Lorraine welcoming back some Casual Traders in the Market Yard.

Litter

Sligo County Council employs 2 full time Litter Wardens having responsibility for specific areas within the County. Routine patrols take place within these areas, in both a pro-active patrol capacity and also in response to complaints received from members of the public and from other government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), An Taisce, etc.

The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment have a programme of initiatives to support and strengthen Local Authority against litter. These have included

 On the spot fines of €150  Allocating grants to the local Authorities to co-fund public anti-litter awareness campaigns  Introduction of the Protection of the Environment Act 2003, which gives Local Authority powers in relation to litter  Levy on plastic bags  Allocating funds to the Local Authorities under the Anti-Dumping Initiative which ensures all litter black spot areas are targeted, cleaned and adequate signage erected together with holding recycling events such as bulky goods amnesty and mattress amnesty etc. Sligo County Council has held these events in the last number of years and they have been very successful.

Littering in Sligo before clean-up

Brian, our Litter Warden investigating illegal dumping in North Sligo.

Litter Complaints

Sligo County Council operates a Complaints Management System (CRM) where details of all complaints received are recorded in a central database from where they are assigned to the relevant member of staff to investigate and resolve. Investigation of instances of littering or dumping may result in the issuing of legal enforcement notices, fines or prosecutions of offenders (working in conjunction with the County Solicitor and the Courts Service). Litter Wardens also work to clear up the smaller occurrences of littering and illegal dumping and, where necessary, will liaise with the Roads Section of the County in the clearing up of illegally dumped waste.

Environmental Awareness

Sligo County Council supports a number of environmental awareness initiatives including Green Aware Sligo, National Spring Clean, Green Schools Programme and administration of Environmental Grants: Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti Awareness Grant Scheme and the Community Environment Action Fund (formerly known as the Local Agenda 21 Grant Scheme). The delivery of several of these initiatives was impacted by Covid-19, but it is expected that they will be operating again as normal in 2021.

The Environment Section also works closely with An Taisce, the Local Authority Prevention Network (LAPN), Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), the Regional Awareness Office, the PPN, Tidy Towns and many other organisations in promoting various schemes and initiatives throughout the year.

For the past number of years, the Environment Section has delivered various clean-up projects under the National Anti-Dumping Initiative, funding which has been administered by the Connacht Ulster WERLA in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.

Projects carried out throughout 2020 included a bulky waste event and mattress collection, as well as the very successful Bikes for Africa initiative which has seen hundreds of bicycles donated by members of the public. This particular project is being run in cooperation with the Rotary Club of Ireland. Large scale clean-ups were also carried out at up to 20 sites throughout the county with a total of 86 tonnes of waste collected throughout the year.

Bricklieve/Carrowkeel Mountain Clean-up held throughout July and August 2020

Bulky Waste Event held on Saturday 8th August 2020

Bikes for Africa Initiative Tom Kilfeather, Director of Services Sligo County Council with Jimmy Waters, President of Sligo Rotary Club along with other Sligo County Council staff and members of Sligo Rotary Club

Climate Action

Following from the adoption of Sligo Council’s Climate Adaptation Strategy in September 2019, the Council’s Climate Action Team was formed to plan the implementation of the Climate Adaptation Strategy. The Council continued to work with the Climate Action Regional Office (CARO) on several different topics, including training for staff, developing support mechanisms for local Sustainable Energy Communities and on implementing actions contained within the Climate Adaptation Strategy.

The Strategic Policy Committee on Climate (SPC4) also held its first meeting in 2020 and drafted a work program for this area. This covers both adaptation and mitigation actions ranging from preparing to participate in the Establishment of Native Woodlands grant scheme, to working with other organisations on issues such as the installation of EV charging infrastructure. We also continued to work with the ESB on a major lighting refitting project that will get underway in 2021. The OPW’s energy awareness initiative did not see any significant progress in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions, but it is hoped this will progress in 2021.

The Council’s energy efficiency improved from 13.8% in 2018 to 26.4% in 2019, a significant improvement, which was measured in 2020. The target for the end of 2020, to be measured in 2021, is 33%. The area of Climate Action and Energy Efficiency has become a greater organisational priority, and this is set to continue as we strive to implement measures to meet our National Targets.

Waste Management

Waste Management continues to be to the fore of EI and Governmental priorities. It receives recognition through increased amounts of legislation and funding. Waste enforcement activities continue to be fully recoupable from Governmental funding. This funding originates from initiatives such as the plastic bag levy and landfill levy. The legislation introduced by Government has encompassed producer responsibility which also generates additional monies.

There are ever increasing demands placed on organisations and families but the need for proper waste management continues to be of importance for economic, legislative and environmental reasons.

There is continuing need to avoid the production of waste at source and try and divert as much as possible from landfill. This diversion of waste is achieved through the provision of facilities and services followed by education and enforcement. The Bring Bank Network, Civic Amenity Sites, Composting Site, Kerbside Recycling, Home Composting and the introduction of a separate organic collection all assist towards diverting waste from landfill.

Another element of waste management is trying to ensure that people manage their waste in a manner that avoids the creation of environmental pollution. Ongoing waste enforcement activities will endeavour to reduce this to a minimum.

James, our Bottle Bank Caretaker continuing service as usual on the bottle bank network, despite increased demand throughout lockdown.

Waste Management and Enforcement priorities will continue to involve bringing unauthorised sites into environmental compliance, increasing the recycling and recovery rates and to try and ensure that works undertaken by Sligo Local Authorities are carried out in compliance with Environmental Legislation.

Waste Management Planning

For the purposes of Waste Management Planning the country is divided into 3 waste regions. Sligo is in the Connacht Ulster Region. A 6-year plan was agreed in 2015 which sets out a road map for achieving commitments and is the framework for the prevention and management of waste. The plan is a statutory document and Sligo County Council has obligations to fund initiatives in the plan as well as the regional office based in Mayo County Council.

Waste Management Enforcement

The Regional Waste Enforcement Office is in operation since January 2016 with the intention of ensuring the effective implementation of Waste Enforcement policy in the Connaught Ulster Region. A key objective is the delivery of an integrated approach to waste enforcement which will drive consistent enforcement of legislation.