Leitrim County Council spent approximately €7679 cleaning up incidents of illegal dumping or littering in the first three months of the year.
Details released to Shannonside FM reveal that a total of 70 complaints were made to the local authority about environmental issues in the first quarter of 2022.
Leitrim County Council estimates that every time it is alerted to an incident of littering or illegal dumping, it costs €100 to remove the waste.
The costs are linked to waste enforcement officer inspections, disposal and administration which may also include the cost of postage of letters/correspondence to those who carried out the offence (where possible to determine).
Details released to Shannonside FM reveal that 34 environmental complaints were made in January to the local authority - including an incident of the use of street bins for disposal of household waste in Ballinamore.
One incident of dumping in Carrick-on-Shannon in January also resulted in clean-up costs of over €700.
15 complaints were made to the local authority in February - including a farm complaint about the storage of waste feed and a possible water pollution incident with a further 21 complaints recorded in March.
In total, illegal dumping makes up the majority of issues faced by the Council's environment section - with over 45 complaints made to the Council between January and March.
