A frustrated resident living on a rural road between Armagh and Richhill says she and her family could easily fill two bin bags with rubbish on an evening’s walk.
The disgruntled home-owner entered our Barrack Street office “on a rant” – and while we all kept it light-hearted – there was undoubtedly a gravity to her argument.
The woman lives on the Tirnascobe Road on the outskirts of the town and says the hedges along a popular “loop” walk are “lined” with dog poo bags that have been carelessly thrown into the hedge row or hung up on branches.
Her argument: “Why even pick it up if you’re going to leave it behind? It’s like a line of lace along the hedgerow!”
Excrement that doesn’t quite make it into disposable bags is left to be driven over or trodden in.
And, it’s not just the smelly parcels that are driving her to distraction… she adds that drivers are guilty of frequently dumping the contents of their cars at the side of the road.
Among detritus found, she notes McDonald’s takeaway bags and boxes, papers, plastic bottles and cans.
“I can’t believe what people are throwing out,” she said.
So prolific is the problem that it takes no time for the waste to accumulate. When out for a walk along a quarter mile stretch of the road she filled one black bin bag. On the return journey she said there was so much left she was able to fill a second.
“I am speaking not just for myself, but for everyone who lives in the countryside,” she said. “Just leave it in the car and take it home with you!”
Angered, she added: “We are not the toilet and we are not the bin!”
