Tipperary householders will have to prove they are correctly disposing of their refuse in Council door-to-door surveys

Tipperary Co. Council litter enforcement officers are to begin conducting door-to-door surveying of households within the next month to root out those who are not using a proper waste collection service to dispose of their domestic refuse. 

The council's enforcement officers will ask householders to produce invoice or receipt proof of what waste disposal service they use. 

Those found to be not using any waste collection or disposal service will face prosecution under new Waste Presentation By-laws adopted by the council last year. 

The council plans to  prioritise the house-to-house  surveys in communities where there is a lot of illegal rubbish dumping. 

Marion O'Neill from the Council's Environment Section outlined the local authority's plans to carry out these door-to-door survey  at Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District's monthly meeting/  

The senior executive officer said the council has adopted new waste management by-laws and the next step was to implement them.  

"We will be targeting areas where there is a high level of rubbish on the roads. "

 Cllr Kieran Bourke, who raised the issue at the Municipal District meeting, said this was wonderful news but queried whether the council has the manpower to do this enforcement work. 

Ms O'Neill said the council had to use its own resources to do this work at the moment. It currently has one enforcement officer in each of the five municipal districts.  They will target areas where the council has received complaints about illegal dumping first. 

Cllr Bourke responded that he wouldn't like to be an enforcement officer having to take on a whole municipal district.