COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF RATHFARNHAM AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

HEADED ITEM NO. 14

LITTER MANAGEMENT PLAN 2011 – 2014 QUARTERLY REPORT

Following the adoption of the Litter Management Plan 2011-2014 the Environmental Services Department agreed that a quarterly progress report be presented to the Councillors on the implementation of the adopted plan.  The quarterly report represents the actions and the progress to date. 

Litter Management Plan 2011-2014 - Quarterly report January 2012

1. Develop programmes on the basis of targeting the various litter categories, blackspots and illegal means of disposing of waste/refuse

• The 2011 Anti- Litter grants have been distributed to all successful applicants
• South Dublin County Council will participate in the National Anti-Gum Litter Task Force campaign in 2012
• Anti-graffiti workshops to be allocated to community groups and schools in 2012
• A programme to prevent dog fouling has been developed.  The Council Dog Wardens have applied stencils to the footpaths in parks including Tymon Park and Sean Walsh Park.
• An information panel on the prevention of dog fouling was displayed at the Railway Procurement Agency Eco Day and at the Beautiful South Dublin County Awards Ceremony.

2. Develop a customer focused litter complaints procedure in order to deal effectively and efficiently with complaints

• Continue to promote Fixyourstreet.ie for litter and illegal dumping and graffiti reports
• Customer care system recorded 4,400 queries with regard to litter, illegal dumping and graffiti in 2011
• Promote the use of the EPA’s illegal dumping Hotline 1850-365121

 3. Continue to actively enforce litter pollution and waste management legislation, bye laws and standards

• Regional review of Litter Pollution Act completed in December 2011. A report will be made to the Environment SPC in February 2012
• Recommendation included wider designation of authorised staff for enforcement purposes.
• Submission to department in Litter Pollution Act review to include skip bags under the Act.
• Discussions ongoing with Westmeath County Council on use of enforcement database tracking system.
• CCTV installed at 6 problem sites. Sites monitored by security firm. Control room established in County hall.
• A cross departmental Litter Forum established in the Council  to track enforcement and achieve effective implementation of legislation.

 4. Improve the litter disposal systems available to the public

• A survey of existing litter bins and their condition throughout the county has been completed by the Cleansing Section staff and the information has been mapped accordingly.
• Litter bins are emptied are per schedule which is guided by volume of waste.
• Information determined from the survey will allow for more effective management of system
• A list of replacement bins is available and  work will commence in 2012

 5. Expand the recycling opportunities within the County

• Survey of all recycling units has been completed and mapped.  Data will be used to implement improvements to the current systems.
• A list of new additional bring bank sites has been collated  -  sites to be inspected and installed if suitable in 2012
• The tender for the servicing of textile banks was completed in December 2011. Successful party to be appointed early 2012
• The Bulbs not Bonfires campaign continued in 2011 with an information leaflet distributed to all households. The campaign included free entry to the Civic Amenity, Ballymount on 28th October.
• A WEEE collection was arranged by CCRI prior to Halloween.
• A Christmas recycling campaign was organised  December 2012

 6. Continue to monitor and review road cleansing service in order to provide an improved service.

• The road sweeping contract tenders returned end November 2011.
• New contract to commence 1st February 2012.  It is proposed that the new service to be procured will give an improvement in the level of service which is currently achieved.
• The Council Cleansing staff operate Monday to Friday;
• Road sweeping is operational 7 days a week subject to Road status.

  7. Develop a litter management programme for designated urban areas within the County – Tallaght city, Clondalkin town centre and other designated areas

• New road sweeping contract will provide an improvement in the level of service which is currently achieved.
• A litter management programme for Tallaght, Clondalkin and other designated areas
• Identifying all actions and supports from the Council and specific area needs to be drawn up.

 8. Prepare litter management, education and awareness programmes that promote community and business involvement, community identity and responsibility, personal responsibility, youth activity etc.

• 42 schools renew their green flags in this school year. 56 of the 100 Primary Schools in the County have been awarded the Green Flag from An Taisce. 8 of the  35 Secondary Schools have the Green Flag Award.
• There were 767 entries for the Anti-litter/Anti-graffiti Schools Competition. A 2012 calendar of the winning entries was distributed to all schools and community centres.
• Over 40  talks  -24 of which were on Litter- have been given in 2011
• 20 schools from the Leinster area participated in Neat Streets - Rockbrook Park School & St Mac Dara's schools in the South Dublin County area
• 1500 anti –litter  leaflets were distributed to date via Litter Wardens, Libraries, Park Rangers, Residents Associations
• Community Clean ups
• The  Social Credits System has been established. www.sociacredits.ie
• The awards ceremony of the Beautiful South Dublin County was held on 15th Nov. Christmas Recycling Campaign - Christmas Decoration Competition
• WEEE Ireland Battery Recycling for Charity - advertised in house, www.sdcc.ie, community centres and libraries.

 9. Encourage active participation in Anti Litter Campaigns

• The 2011 anti – litter grant scheme advertised and grants issued to all successful applicants.
• Anti- litter campaigns include - Christmas Decoration Competition, WEEE Ireland Battery Recycling for Charity,  Anti Litter & Anti Graffiti competition  with winning entries printed in form of 2012 calendar. 
• Promoting www.fixyourstreet.ie
• Social Credits system – actively promotes positive sustainable environmental action. Website developed www.socialcredits.ie. Over 80 applications todate.
• Public meeting on Tidy Towns to be arranged in February

 10. Develop a communications programme to promote a litter free County – including the promotion of the use of www.southdublin.ie and www.dublinwaste.ie

• Ongoing  process
• 7th Edition of Green Times distributed to all schools in the County
• Promotion of Tidy Towns ongoing
• Ongoing promotion of anti-litter on social media

 11. Optimise the application of available technology in the enforcement and prevention of litter

There is an ongoing programme to continuously update and use all available technology including the development of www.fixyourstreet.ie . All sections of the environment department now use mobile data gathering surveys to directly capture and  map all data – litter bin locations, recycling locations and litter black spots.

 12. Utilise systematic data analysis systems to monitor and plan Litter management and decision making

The use of mobile data capture systems to automatically record locations and activity. This leads to the ability to spatially map and inform decision making.

 13. Continue to research and implement best practice models

A cross departmental litter forum has been established to review current practices, monitor litter related activity and establish ongoing improvements.

 14. Ensure the provision of a litter management plan for all major events

Litter management is included in licence agreements.