A major environmental clean-up is currently under way in South Armagh, where the contents of an illegal landfill site are being sent back across the border to the Republic where it originated. A fleet of lorries has already begun returning hundreds of tonnes of household waste, including old nappies and decaying food, all illegal waste which has netted the rubbish racketeers thousands of pounds. As previously mentioned in the January 2007 Monthly Bulletin, this is the first time illegal waste has been repatriated.
Environmental officials from the Republic, who themselves are cracking down on the illegal waste, helped oversee the repatriation operation. The aim is to make life more difficult for the racketeers who make their money by avoiding landfill taxes. It is estimated that each lorry load of illegal waste can be worth up to £2,000 to the operators of illegal landfill sites. A number of other illegal dumps along the border are now under investigation, and the authorities say they plan to make the people responsible pay the costs involved in returning the waste and having it disposed of properly at engineered sites.
