COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 11, 2011

MOTION NO. 10

MOTION: Councillor E. Higgins

That this Council calls for an examination of the possibility and financial feasibility of introducing a junk collection system in 2012.

REPORT:

Due to rising costs associated with the provision of a junk collection service during 2005 to 2008 as shown by the table below and as part of the imposition of budgetary constraints on disrectionary areas of expenditure due to the financial situation that this Council found itself in during 2009, no provision was made in the Revised Budget 2009 for junk collections. 

Junk Collection 2008 2007 2006 2005
Total number of houses serviced 21,450 21,500 24,511 21,285
Total cost €590,060 €535,536 €444,354 €423,196  
Tonnage collected 1,333 1,637 1,574 1,705  
Cost per house €27.45 €24.91 €18.13 €19.88  

The rising costs of waste disposal contributed significantly to the increased costs while an additional factor was the downward trend in the tonnages collected through the junk collection with services provided in the County by organisations such as WEEE Ireland and CCRI (Clondalkin Community Recycling Initiative) offering a collection service to households for electrical goods and the development of the Freetrade initiative led by the Dublin region seeing considerable growth over recent years.  Customers can also dispose of unwanted material such as scrap metal, timber, plasterboard and bulky household items such as furntiure at Ballymount Civic Amenity with charges currently as follows: car only €15; car van/estate car €21; cars & small box trailer 1.2m x 1.2m (single axle only) €35.

The policing of the junk collections also became an issue as illegally collected waste was brought to the areas and left for collection by the Council.  The Council has endeavoured to support people to use the facilities available to them and indeed the use of Ballymount as an anti-bonfire mechanism in 2010 proved a significant success.  It is not felt that the level of funding required for the junk collections in light of other demands would prove am effective use of the resources.