Meath County Council is investigating the illegal dumping of more than 3,000 waste tyres on forest land by “unscrupulous waste collectors”.
It is understood the tyres were dumped on private land near Longwood village last Thursday night or Friday morning
The landowner is now facing a clean-up bill of an estimated €7,000.
In a statement the council said: “The waste tyres would have been generated by tyre suppliers and/or fitters and dumped by unscrupulous waste collectors collecting waste.
“The private landowner is being contacted to advise them of the dumping as they will be responsible for the clean-up costs as it occurred on private land. Meath County Council would urge landowners to secure their land with locked gates and fencing to deter this activity from occurring.”
The council stressed that any business selling tyres must be registered with Circol ELT - www.circolelt.ie - and it said garages should ensure waste tyres are transferred to authorised collectors. “Always ask for proof of waste collection permit and retain documentation for waste tyres collected.”
The council’s senior executive engineer Declan Grimes has also asked any motorist who may have noticed anything suspicious or have dash cam coverage to contact the council
“The R160 Trim to Longwood regional Road is a very busy route and Coillte and private landowners have forests along the route.
“The area is very visible and a large truck would have had to be used and would have had to reverse onto the site to dump all the tyres which are stacked about 25m in length.
“Whoever drove the truck took a risk of being bogged down in muddy land and of being seen.”
Last September, the council had to undertake a clean-up of 117 tyres and car parts were dumped on a rural roadside in Kentstown, only weeks after 50 tyres, 23 five-gallon and three 45 gallon barrels of oil were discarded outside Dunshaughlin.
Anyone with information regarding this illegal dumping is asked to contact Meath County Council Environment Section on 046 9097200 or email environment@meathcoco.ie.