'Cat litter' clean-up cost £50k

HMRC officers have made seizures of cat litter at laundering plants

It's emerged that it cost an education board almost £50,000 to clean up a huge pile of cat litter which was dumped on its land by illegal fuel launderers.

The cat litter, which was used to filter dye out of diesel, was dumped at a North Eastern Education and Library Board depot in Coleraine.

It was discovered in March this year but the dumping may have been going on for up to three years.

Almost 50 tonnes of waste had to be shipped to England.

Education Minister Catriona Ruane said that test results at the Lodge Road depot revealed that a large area of land had been contaminated by liquids from bags containing the cat litter.

Hazardous

As a result 200 tonnes of waste had to be removed by specialist contractors.

Most of that material was safe to be dumped in a nearby landfill site.

However, more than 50 tonnes of hazardous material had to taken to a special facility in England at a total cost of £47,784.

The details emerged in response to assembly questions from DUP MLA Adrian McQuillan.