Clean-up crew Pure of heart..

Community group tackling dumpers for 20 years

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SOLUTIONS to the problems we all face come in many shapes and sizes.

But inevitably they share one thing in common - communities and organisations coming together.

This year marks almost 20 years since some like-minded bodies and people identified the scourge of illegal dumping in the Wicklow/Dublin mountains as something they wanted to take action on.

Since then the Pure Project has removed a staggering 4,100 tonnes of rubbish from over 15,700 illegal dumping sites. It would fill 820,000 bags, enough to stretch from Dublin to Cork and back again.

The group's 2024 report just published shows an overall reduction since it started its work of 67%.

But the problem still hasn't gone away.

After years of progress, last year saw a 22% increase in fly tipping on the previous 12 months.

"In the first four months we removed 60,000kg of illegally dumped waste," said manager Ian Davis.