Laois hacks suggested to catch illegal fast food dumpers
Laois councillors are brainstorming ways to find and fine dashboard diners, who dump their fast food wrappers out the window of their vehicles.
Barcodes, returnable containers, phone numbers and order numbers are among the suggestions made to curb the ever growing problem of litter in the countryside.
Cllr PJ Kelly launched the discussion when he tabled a motion to the June meeting of Laois County Council.
"A barcode system is what's in my head. I'd imagine some food outlets would come forward themselves rather than be asked.
"The Tidy Towns in my area do a fortnightly pickup and potentially 80% is stuff thrown out through the window as people drive along. Collossal amounts of stuff is in gateways and forestry.," he said.
His motion asks the council to propose a pilot scheme to fast food outlets in Laois that can trace back the waste to the dumper.
In reply, the council say they will first ask the Environmental Strategic Policy Committee to consider the proposal, before contacting companies. They also noted that packaging producers have an obligation to ensure it is disposed correctly.
Cllr John King suggests returnable containers for cash.
"If there was a few cent on the boxes it might be an incentive. The onus should be on these food places that sell them," he said.
Cllr Catherine Fitzgerald suggests simply writing the phone numbers on the packaging.
"I'd say 50 or 60% of it is ordered online, if you could ask them to put the phone number or email on the carton, it's worth looking at," she said.
Cllr Thomasina Connell suggests that most people pay with a card which could be used some way along with CCTV to identify them.
"If they had a fear they would be identified it would be a deterrant. You go in after a nightclub and tap your card, there is CCTV in all outlets," she said.
The takeaways should foot the bill for any pilot scheme, added Cllr Aisling Moran. She suggests using the order number given to customers in some establishments to trace them.
Cllr Conor Bergin is not hopeful.
"There is no silver bullet to stop illegal dumping, it's a scourge," he said.
He notes that the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown local authority has banned single use plastic.
"We have to try everything," he said.