Council ‘can’t stop illegal waste ads on social media’
Councillors at yesterday's monthly meeting of the full Council were told this yesterday in a report to a motion from Cllr Mark Leigh, who asked that the authority work with all social media and advertising sites to prevent the advertising of such services.
The response from Director of Services Joe Boland said such activity is the biggest single contributor to fly-tipping in the county. He said the Council is more than happy to progress its own social media campaign cautioning members of the public regarding the use of such services. “Such unwitting consumers may well be the subject or prosecutions and significant fines,” he added, noting that waste taken away cheaply by such operators has every prospect of ending up a bog, field, canal or country lane.
Mr Boland said that he had been liaising with the Waste Enforcement Region Lead Authority (WERLA) which has been in contact with the main social media providers. “Though regrettably with no great success, and regrettably they cannot be compelled to stop taking these adverts.” He noted that Kildare County Council’s own legal advice concurred with this position.
Mr Boland appealed to the public to notify the Council if they are approached by someone offering to take away waste or see advertisements for such services. “In this context, the Council, working with the Gardai in the Athy area, took joint action which resulted in the arrest of an individual.”
