ENVIRONMENTAL RISK: Cllr Marie Moloney with some of the light bulbs found in a secluded area of Kilcummin this week.

EXCLUSIVE

By Sean Moriarty

Illegal dumping in the Kilcummin area has reached a new level of irresponsibility after hundreds of florescent lighting tubes were found discarded in a secluded area this week.

Dumping has been an on-going issue for the people of Kilcummin for many years but the latest discovery could cause serious environmental damage as the tubes contain mercury and would have a devastating effect on the water supply network.

The tubes were discovered by local Councillor Marie Moloney in Knocklebede, a back road between Kilcummin and Scartaglin, in an area known locally as ‘The Leaps’.

She said she was going to do everything possible to identify the perpetrators.

“This is someone with local knowledge, very few people use this road, or need to use this road,” she said. “The lights have a Stock Keeping Unit number, so the brand, the supplier and place of sale will be identifiable. Household dumping is bad enough but this is a new low – and there is a big ‘No Dumping’ sign within feet of where it was dumped. It is, obviously, from a large scale renovation of a building and the people who dumped this knew what they were dealing with and the risks involved.”

Mercury is extremely toxic and must be handled with care. In cases of spills involving mercury from fluorescent light bulbs, specific cleaning procedures are used to avoid exposure and to contain the spill.

Broken light bulbs emit a mercury dust adding to the environmental risk caused by such dumping and Kerry County Council will need to dispatch a specialised cleaning unit to the site to remove the tubes and contain the possible spread of mercury into the eco-system.