Recycling efforts lead to litter problem at Tuam bottle bank

By SIOBHÃÂN HOLLIMAN PEOPLE dumping empty bottles at already overflowing bottle banks in local towns are littering, and could face hefty fines if caught. Galway Co Council is appealing to the public to notify its offices if a bottle bank is full and not to abandon boxes and bags of empty glass bottles alongside the recycling facilities. The problem was highlighted over the weekend at the bottle banks close to Tuam swimming pool, where hundreds of glass bottles and jars were dumped beside bring banks which were already full. There are two bottle bank sites located in Tuam; the other one is at the Weir Road. Some people who visited the swimming pool bring banks then attempted to dispose of their glass items at the former Council amenity site on the Athenry Road. However, they were annoyed that they werenâ€â„¢t able to do so, as the facility is now leased to private waste operators Barna Waste, which has recently introduced charges for using the recycling facility. Galway Co Council says that Rehab empties all of the countyâ€â„¢s bottle banks and that capacity is regularly monitored. However, the local authority added that if a bottle bank is full, and the Council is notified, it will organise for it to be emptied immediately.[private] â€Å“Once we get a complaint about a full bottle bank we arrange for it to be emptied right away. We would ask the public to take home their bottles and jars until the bank is emptied and not to leave them beside full bottle banks,â€Â said a spokesperson for the Councilâ€â„¢s environment section, who added that this type of behaviour can attract further indiscriminate dumping, not just of glass but of household waste. Loose bottles and jars also pose a safety risk as they could be dangerous if broken. The Council says it is eager to encourage as much recycling as possible and that if a community feels there is a particular shortage of bottle banks in an area, then it will endeavour to provide more. â€Å“Weâ€â„¢re always willing to look at making more bottle banks available. If possible sites are identified and are deemed suitable, then we will definitely provide another bottle bank,â€Â said the spokesperson. Tuam Town Councillor Sally Ann Flanagan says the bottle bank at the swimming pool is the most used in the town and she is asking the Council and the community wardens to step up monitoring of the facility. She told The Herald that the introduction of charges at the civic amenity site may be putting additional pressure on the town centre bottle bank and that the possibility of providing extra facilities should be looked at. â€Å“While I donâ€â„¢t agree with people leaving bottles beside banks that are full, we should be encouraging people to recycle as much as possible and should facilitate this by ensuring adequate capacity at public bottle banks. I plan to raise the issue at the next meeting of the town council and to ask for suggestions for other possible locations for a bottle bank close to the town centre,â€Â she said. Indiscriminate dumping at bottle banks has proved problematic in other areas around the county, where communities have encountered the problem of passers-by leaving bags of household waste at the facilities. In a number of instances local Tidy Towns committees have installed CCTV in an effort to deter littering. However, in extreme cases, where even the risk of being caught on camera hasnâ€â„¢t stopped the problem, the Council has been forced to remove the bottle banks.[/private]