A west Roscommon shop owner has been forced to remove all waste bins from his forecourt due to an excessive amount of illegal dumping.
Pat Towey who owns and operates a petrol station on the outskirts of Ballaghadereen collected over 700 bags of discarded rubbish from the front of his premises last year.
He says the items consisted of clothing, nappies and other household goods which were not purchased on site but he was then tasked with the disposal costs of this waste.
The Ballaghadereen businessman describes the issue as transient littering which sees people traveling through the town taking the opportunity to get rid of their car waste at the petrol forecourt.
Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show Pat says he will continue to take responsibility for rubbish associated with customers however he feels he had no other choice but to remove all visible bins.
''I think there's a kind of a belief out there that the business can carry the deed for somebody else. You know, they have to get rid of their rubbish and they think amn't I as well to throw my rubbish in someone else's bin . And even only yesterday, there was stuff dumped again that shouldn't be dumped on my forecourt but nonetheless, I have a duty of care to my customers to make sure that the forecourt is clean at all times. It's down to a habit, a way oflife. I dump it, I throw it out the window, it's somebody else's responsibility.''
