A sticky situation that must be tackled

First it was spat out chewing gum and then carelessly discarded cigarette butts but a new scourge has now emerged to counter the great work being done by Killarney Municipal District Council's outdoor crews and tidy towns volunteers.

The outside of litter bins on the streets are being constantly plastered with small adhesive labels,understood to be from vaping products, with literally hundreds of them pasted on to bins on every street.

The ignorant litter louts responsible are creating a real headache for those charged with keeping Killarney looking good as it takes an enormous amount of time and effort to remove the individual stickers.

The adhesive seals are ripped off to open the packets and, instead of disposing of them properly in the bins, those responsible are sticking them to the outside to leave somebody else to clean up their mess.

The stickers can be seen struck to bins all over the town and there is also evidence of the small adhesive labels left on poles, electricity boxes, benches and, in some instances, stuck to the shopfronts of some businesses.

The problem is creating a nightmare situation for street cleaning crews and tidy towns volunteers who are left to remove the stickers and dispose of them properly and Mayor of Killarney, Cllr Niall Kelleher, has now called on the companies manufacturing the products to devise new packaging to tackle the problems being created.

"It's very unsightly and it's very frustrating for all involved," he said.

"It makes it a little bit awkward for the people removing the labels when they have it sticking to their hands but all they need to do is fold it in half and place it inside the bins instead of sticking it to the outside. All it takes is a few seconds of their time," Cllr Kelleher said.

There is also an onus on the shops selling the products to behave responsibly by placing bins in their stores and encouraging their customers to use them rather than sticking the labels to street furniture and bins.

If the problem persists the authorities will have to consider introducing a new bye-law to govern the matter and there are already calls in some quarters for a levy to be placed on businesses that stock the products causing the problems.

KillarneyToday.com: Be wise and advertise where it's seen. Email: [email protected] or Call 087-2229761