Mr. Ian Davis:

I thank the Chairman and the committee. PURE is a partnership project and the first of its kind in Ireland. It incorporates statutory and non-statutory organisations, including Wicklow County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Coillte, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Wicklow Uplands Council. It was established to combat illegal dumping and fly-tipping in the Wicklow-Dublin uplands. The project is funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, with additional financial and in-kind contributions from the other key stakeholders. PURE was officially launched in September 2006 as a three-year pilot initiative.

The PURE project focuses directly on combatting illegal dumping and fly-tipping in the Wicklow-Dublin uplands by utilising a multi-discipline approach incorporating a number of enforcement and preventative measures, media and public relations campaigns, public awareness campaigns, community projects, and educational initiatives. These include a lo-call phone line with the EPA, 1850 365121, that people can use to report directly to PURE; environmental effectiveness; a dedicated clean-up vehicle; GPS and GIS databases to record all incidents of fly-tipping; deployment of PURE covert CCTV; public awareness campaigns; multimedia environmental exhibitions; a website and various social media; community initiatives, such as the PURE mile; education programmes; and a media campaign.

I receive reports and complaints of illegal dumping through a number of channels, the EPA phone line, the PURE office, emails and social media such as Twitter and Facebook, etc. I have received over 10,000 complaints and reports since 2007. The PURE GPS and GIS database records all incidents of illegal dumping by GPS. I then transfer this information into a GIS database system, a mapping system, which provides comprehensive information on date of collection, time of collection, location of dumping, landowner, type of waste dumped and the waste quantity on the site. The GPS also enables the user to take a photograph of the site.

Since PURE was established, the project has built up a comprehensive baseline of data on illegal dumping, with over 10,000 individual dumping sites recorded from the Wicklow-Dublin uplands. This is invaluable information in combating, preventing and alleviating illegal dumping. From 2007 to 1 October 2017, the PURE truck has removed over 3,000 tonnes of illegal dumping from the Wicklow-Dublin uplands. To place the total tonnage collected by PURE into context, in 2016 the PURE truck collected 252.59 tonnes of illegally dumped waste. This resulted in 110 truckloads, with an average weight of 2.3 tonnes. Using the figure of over 3,000 tonnes of total waste collected, this indicates that over 1,331 full truckloads of illegally dumped rubbish has been removed from the Wicklow-Dublin uplands since the establishment of PURE. PURE collects illegal dumping from all the organisations involved in the project. I work with a diverse range of community groups, organisations like the PURE mile groups, walking groups, running groups, cycling groups, and special interest groups. I assist them in the removal of illegal dumping and provide advice on suitable preventative measures in relation to illegal dumping.

In 2017, the PURE truck has removed eight truckloads of tyres from the Wicklow-Dublin uplands, with a combined weight of 11.59 tonnes. It is estimated that 1 tonne of tyres equals 200 car tyres, which provides a figure of over 2,300 tyres being dumped in the Wicklow-Dublin uplands. It is estimated that 1 tonne of tyres equals 200 car tyres and, considering that between 2009 and 1 October 2017 PURE removed a total of 64.13 tonnes of tyres, this provides a total figure of over 12,820 tyres being removed from the Wicklow-Dublin uplands during this period.

The establishment of PURE has removed a number of past inefficiencies relating to illegal dumping in the Wicklow-Dublin uplands including early identification of illegal dumping sites, and the swift removal of illegally dumped waste which reduces further dumping occurring at a particular site. For the past 11 years, PURE has been effective in developing a multi-disciplined approach in combating illegal dumping, incorporating both statutory and non-statutory organisations. This has involved enhancing public awareness of dumping, and engaging with all demographics, the young and the old, through the creation of innovative projects such as primary and secondary schools' projects, PURE animation, PURE music, PURE wisdom, PURE theatre, encouraging community participation in the PURE mile, PURE environmental awareness exhibitions, and running a successful regional and national media campaign to highlight the illegal dumping issue. I have provided a selection of photographs of illegal dumping in the Wicklow-Dublin uplands.