22% increase reported in illegal dumping in upland areas last year

The environmental project, Pure (Protecting Uplands & Rural Environments), has recorded a 22% increase in illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands when compared to 2023.

In 2024 Pure removed 890 individual illegal dumping sites, with the collection of 146,580kg (146.580 tonnes) of illegally dumped waste from the remote, beautiful, and scenic, Wicklow/Dublin Uplands.

This was a 22% increase when compared to 2023 when Pure removed 120,000kg (120 tonnes).

Although the initiative has made huge progress in reducing illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands since the project was established in 2006, Pure encountered a number of large illegal dumping sites last year and removed 33,000kg of illegally dumped waste from the South Dublin Uplands.

Ian Davis, Pure Manager, commented: ‘The Pure partnership approach, incorporating statutory and non-statutory organisations, and members of the public, has proven extremely successful in combating illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands.

‘However, we were extremely busy in 2024 and in the first four months we removed 60,000kg of illegally dumped waste, which is an increase compared to previous years.’

The Pure Truck was in the South Dublin Uplands early in 2024 and on the 2nd of January it removed five illegal dumping sites and returned again on the 5th of January to collect two large dumping sites which resulted in the removal of approximately 4,000kg of waste.

Pure responded to several large-scale illegal dumping incidents with many of the sites containing mixed waste including cement blocks, timber, pallets, couches, sofas, tables, beds, mattresses, cabinets, chairs, toys, clothes, carpets, presses, fridges, T.V.s, washing machines with our Pure Truck making 293 individual collections in the South Dublin Uplands.

Ian Davis, Pure Manager, further commented,

‘Although we did see an increase in dumping recorded in 2024, it is worth noting that when you compare last year to 2008, which was our busiest year, when we removed 440 tonnes (440,000kg), 2024 represents a 67% reduction in illegal dumping in Wicklow/Dublin Uplands.

‘We have made huge progress in reducing illegal dumping, but we know that we cannot become complacent, and it is vital that we continue to monitor the situation and ensure that we remove illegal dumping quickly from the landscape – because we know that, Dumping causes Dumping.’

The Pure Truck is on the road every day, and since Pure was established in 2006, it has removed over 4,100,000kg (4,100 tonnes) of rubbish from over 15,700 illegal dumping sites in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands, with the project processing over 16,900 reports reports/complaints.

‘If you were to put all the rubbish that Pure has removed from the uplands into standard household rubbish bags, they would fill over 820,000 bags.

If you lined up all these bags on the road, they would stretch all the way from Dublin Airport to Mizen Head in Cork, and back again.

Pure has been recording and mapping every location and incident of illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands since 2006 and they have built up a base-line-data of all illegal dumping activity in this region, the location of dumping, type of dumping, landowner, and approximate amount of dumping, and for several years now they have been recording an annual reduction. The data collected by Pure is valuable information providing indicators into the nature and extent of illegal dumping in Wicklow/Dublin Uplands, and statistical evidence for all illegal dumping incidents in this region.

Pure utilises a multi-disciplined approach in combating illegal dumping, incorporating a number of educational initiatives, environment/community/heritage projects – The Pure Mile, public awareness campaigns, regional/national media campaigns, enforcement and preventative measures, GPS/GIS data-base to record all illegal dumping sites, and they also have a dedicated vehicle, the Pure Truck, which removes all illegal dumping from the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands.

A new Pure Truck was purchased last year from funding provided by the Department of Environment, Climate, and Communications, and Pure secured funding from the department until the end of 2026.