COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF TALLAGHT AREA COMMITTEE (2)

Monday, September 27, 2010

MOTION NO. 5

MOTION: Councillor B. Lawlor

That this Committee, while acknowledging the hard work of the Parks and Environment maintenance staff, calls on the Manager to once and for all address the ongoing problem of when residents associations or voluntary groups agree a pick up date for rubbish and green waste after an estate or park cleanup by them that this Council collects within a set time frame 1-3 days of agreed date.

REPORT:

The Council wishes to also acknowledge the work of many local groups, organisations and residents in maintaining the public areas of their estates. As a practical support, the Council, given advance notice of a planned cleanup, will arrange to remove the rubbish and litter gathered up from public areas during such clean-ups.

However, in some recent cases, it was clear that the bulk of the material for collection had come from private properties and had been placed with the material gathered during the clean-up of public areas. It was unfortunate that some people decided to exploit the goodwill of their neighbours and the council by dumping their own waste out onto the public space. The removal of such material was considered to be an inappropriate use of council resources, given that there is already an existing waste collection service in operation.   The Council decided, on a one off basis, to deal with the particular cases although the additional waste substantially increased the volume of material requiring removal and disposal.  

The Council would like to continue to support local cleanups of public areas where possible. It is therefore important that when a clean up of an estate is being organised, that it is well controlled by local residents and that good advance notice is given to the two Departments involved, i.e. Parks and Landscape Services and Environmental Services Departments so that a timely collection of the material can be organised. 

Where it is considered that residents are taking advantage of this support measure, the council will review the provision of this support for any future cleanups that may be arranged in that area.