The 14th annual County Clean Up is set to take place on April 11 with registration officially opening this coming Monday.

Since the initiative began in 2012, volunteers across Kerry have collected and disposed of over 650 tonnes of waste, filling almost 75,000 bags of litter to date.

The event, supported by KWD Recycling and Kerry County Council, has become a staple of the local community calendar.

Kerry GAA legend Colm ‘The Gooch’ Cooper returns as the County Clean Up Ambassador for 2026, helping to lead the call for individuals, schools, sporting groups, and businesses to get involved.

Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr Michael Foley, highlighted the unique scale of the project. He urged residents’ associations and voluntary groups to gather litter along both major routes and local country roads to ensure the county is kept “spick and span.”

Noel O’Reilly from KWD Recycling noted that the day is a vital part of the fight against illegal dumping. He stressed the importance of groups signing up early to obtain their clean-up packs and to coordinate exactly where collected litter should be left for disposal.

Killarney Fire and Rescue has issued an urgent safety warning regarding the charging of devices containing lithium-ion batteries.

The alert covers a wide range of common household and professional items, including mobile phones, laptops, e-scooters, and modern power tools.

Fire officers have highlighted that these batteries consist of several individual cells. If a battery begins to overheat while charging, it can trigger a process where one cell ignites the next in rapid succession, leading to a significant fire.

Killarney Fire and Rescue Officer Paudie Mangan explained that the service recently attended a local fire caused by a laptop that had been left to charge for an excessive period.

The prolonged charging resulted in the battery cells overheating and starting the blaze.

The fire service is particularly concerned about the practice of charging high-capacity batteries, such as those found in e-scooters and power tools, inside residential buildings.

Tradespeople are also being warned not to leave tool batteries charging unattended for long periods.

“One fire we have attended was caused by an e-scooter charging in a cupboard under a stairs,” Officer Mangan stated. “Once the fire took off, the people had to jump out windows as flames blocked the stairs. Things like e-scooters and power tools should not be charged inside the home.”