Litter warden finds suitcase of sex toys dumped illegally on roadside

A litter warden who says at least 10,000 household rubbish bags have been dumped across Meath since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that the strangest item he has found discarded along the roadside was a suitcase full of sex toys.

Alan Nolan, who also discovered 22 bags of cannabis dumped in east Meath last year, says he couldn’t believe it when he opened the suitcase after being alerted by a member of the public.

He also found another sex toy and lubricant strewn in the ditches in Gormanston last week.

“I don’t often get surprised at this stage at the stuff that people dump, but last September we got a call from a lady about illegal dumping at the side of the road at Beamore, which included a large suitcase.

“I told her not to touch anything until we arrived in case there was any evidence. We looked at the suitcase for any markings or any travel labels on it but there was nothing.

“When we opened it, there were over 40 sex toys of all descriptions. It just completely surprised and baffled me. Why would someone just dump them on the roadside."

“Last week while clearing up more rubbish dumped in Gormanston, we came across another sex toy and lubricant. These things are completely recyclable for free because they are battery operated.”

Another thing you don’t expect to find littering the roadside are drugs but Alan detected 22 black bags of cannabis plants containing cannabinoid-rich buds in Julianstown last February.

“It’s getting more prevalent. In the last three years, I have come across about eight incidents of illegal dumping of between 10 and 20 bags of compost and used cannabis plants along roads in areas like Ashbourne, Garristown, Julianstown, Bettystown and Bellewstown.

Alan is also left aghast at the amount of almost-new prams and bikes dumped and other items which are also all recyclable.

“That is the puzzling part. Most of the waste around our countryside can be recycled for a €2 charge at a civic amenity site. Indeed, some of the dumpers have probably driven past a recycling centre to tip their rubbish along the road."

“On one occasion I came across 25 bags of aluminium beer cans which could have earned a few hundred euro from a scrap metal operator.

“I’ve also found valuable bikes, worth up to €800 and buggies with all the attachments that would cost about €680, just abandoned on the roadside.”

Sifting through up to a dozen bags of other people’s rubbish has become a daily task for the litter warden, who says cases of illegal dumping continue to rise due to the pandemic.

Part of the marked increase, he believes, can be attributed to people now working from home who would otherwise dispose of their rubbish at their workplace.

No longer with access to a company bin, some drop rubbish at the side of the road instead as a ‘temporary’ measure until workplaces reopen.

More and more food waste has also been generated as people who started bi-weekly big shops to cut down on their trips out bought in bulk, only to have to later throw out expired produce, he said.

However Alan’s investigations have not just uncovered unauthorised collectors and serial litterers but also people who could not genuinely afford a bin.

I’ve been working as a litter warden for the last six years and in east Meath for the last two,” he said.

“In the first five weeks of the pandemic, the calls reporting illegal dumping rose by about 40% and our workload, I’d say, has increased by 70% since then.

“When people are at home, they eat more. People were buying more food than normal and all of a sudden they had two sliced pans that were out of date and various vegetables that had rotted. All this dumped food leads to vermin problems in that area.

“We were issued with a lot more safety equipment, such as sanitisers, face masks and stronger gloves, to avoid any contamination from bags containing nappies, food waste, feminine hygiene products and any hypodermic needles.

“I have to deal with up to 12 bags of rubbish each day and sift through every bit of waste in an effort to find evidence. Some days there is none, which is disheartening, but out of 10 bags, we find evidence in about five of them.

“These people will slip up and we will always catch them,” he laughed.

“There was one serial dumper who left two bags of rubbish over eight consecutive weeks and finally, we found a Chinese takeaway box in one of the bags with their name on it, so they received a €1000 fine.”

Unauthorised collectors are still a major problem and Alan spends a lot of time on Facebook shutting down such sites.

“People fail to realise that if their rubbish is traced back to them, they get the fine and possible conviction, not the unauthorised collectors.

“People should always take a few minutes to check if the man with a van is licensed, which you can easily do at www.nwcpo.ie, where there is a list of all registered collectors.

“However some of these so-called companies are intimidating and some householders are scared to give evidence in case of repercussions – they would rather pay the hefty fines themselves.”

In the last year, Alan says he has encountered genuine cases where people dumped their waste because they didn’t feel they had a choice.

“There are a lot of people under pressure with cuts in wages during these times.

“One woman I traced from the contents of a discarded black bag was at her wits end trying to cope financially and she was afraid to ask for help. I’d say she had been crying a lot and had slept little in recent months.

“The council cleared the rubbish from her garden and we put her in touch with St Vincent de Paul. I called back a few months later and she looked great – like a weight had been lifted. She couldn’t thank me enough but we are here to try to help too.”

“I love my job but some days you just wonder about the mindset of people and how they can consciously destroy the countryside and legacy of their children. It is baffling.”

The latest figures obtained from Meath County Council show that it cost €4,148,311 to clean up illegal dumping across the country in 2018.