Clean up events result in collection of 1,700 bags of litter and rubbish

A community clean-up initiative has helped to remove thousands of bags of litter and rubbish from the South Dublin Uplands since last November.

Pure Mile encourages communities and groups to adopt a mile (or miles) of road and work with Pure organising litter picks and clean ups.

These clean-up events have resulted in the collection of over 1,700 bags of litter, rubbish, and dumping, from the Wicklow and Dublin upland environment, all by thousands of Pure Mile Volunteers.

One recent Pure Mile clean-up of the South Dublin Upland roads of Bohernabreena/ Ballinascorney resulted in the collection of over 75 bags of rubbish.

It is estimated that the Pure Truck removed 33,000kg of illegally dumped waste from the South Dublin Uplands in 2024.

“The Pure Mile was established in 2010, and the project has grown from 5 miles to over 1,000 miles,” Ian Davis, manager of Pure said.

“We have seen an increase in people reconnecting with the area they live in, or in an area they recreate, and people are becoming much more aware of the amount of litter and rubbish on our roadside verges, hedges, and drains.

“It’s amazing the amount of litter and rubbish the Pure Mile Volunteers are removing, and on behalf of Pure I would like to thank all of them and congratulate them for their dedication in Cleaning Up the South Dublin Uplands,” he continued.

Apart from general litter, other discarded material dumped on the environment included, tyres, batteries, mattresses, radios, hovers, TV’s, cables, piping, furniture, chairs, bedframes, building materials, plaster board, timber, carpets, lino, metal, flooring, toys, prams, buckets, bikes, and much more.

The South Dublin Uplands is a unique landscape and environment and although Pure has removed tonnes of illegal dumping from this beautiful scenic landscape, they only have one truck and one driver, so they are unable to remove the unsightly small-scale litter from the area.

Pure want to engage with all types of groups and businesses who are interested in ‘Cleaning-Up the South Dublin Uplands’ and they will assist in any way they can.

Pure provide all groups with Pure Mile signage, Pure Mile bags, Pure Mile high-vis vests, gloves, litter pickers, and the Pure Truck removes all the rubbish collected by the groups.

Members of the public can report all incidents of illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands to the Pure Office by emailing Pure at info@pureproject.ie or phone Pure on 0402 28662.