Every year, illegal dumping in Dublin City costs €1m a year. Last year, 3,298 tons of illegally dumped waste were collected by Dublin City Council. In particular, it gave some people the idea of getting involved in cleaning up urban spaces to make them more pleasant for the people of Dublin. This is the case of Rhiannon, an environmental activist who decided to do her bit to clean up her neighbourhood since their committee has not hired any commercial dump truck service to come by and dispose of their waste.
Although the costs of illegal are high, a report published by the Dublin City Council shows that the tonnage of dumped rubbish in Dublin City has decreased over the two last years. The number of reports regarding illegal dumping also went down by 9% since 2020. Last year, over 12,000 complaints were recorded.
After having witnessed this situation and these incivilities, Rhiannon Shipton decided to get involved in the preservation of its neighbourhood and urban environment to make common spaces more pleasant for the residents of Portobello. In her spare time, she takes her skateboard, a pair of gloves and a large bag to pick up litter in her neighbourhood.
“It’s sad when you see parks and natural places that are destroyed by rubbish because that’s where you live, I don’t understand why people don’t pick up their rubbish and try to look after it.”
Rhiannon Shipton
For Rhiannon, efforts to end illegal dumping are not sufficient. Waste collection services, bottle and clothes banks but also CCTV cameras have been set up to encourage residents to avoid illegal dumping. “The government and the council should be working together to prevent people from dumping, a way to do that could be to raise the price of plastic bags to encourage people to use sustainable bags”.
In this video news report, Rhiannon takes you along to find out how she is committed to trying to save the environment as best she can, showing that everyone can contribute to taking care of their neighbourhood.
