COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, November 12, 2018
QUESTION NO. 22
QUESTION: Councillor L. O'Toole
To request the Chief Executive to advise on the protocol regarding provision of public litter bins within housing estates, including the areas that have litter bins within housing estates, and if open green spaces that exists in housing estates are considered as open public space.
REPLY:
The Council's Public Realm Section is responsible for litter control in all public spaces within the Council’s administrative area and as part of this service, Public Realm provides and maintains a network of c 800 litter bins on street and in public parks, open spaces and housing areas across the county.
These bins are inspected daily and emptied as appropriate. In order to optimise resources and ensure that litter bins are provided in the most cost effective manner, while ensuring that they deliver maximum service, certain principles apply to where litter bins will / will not be provided.
All sites considered suitable for bin placement are subject to capacity of the location to facilitate safe access for maintenance vehicles (side loader), and in accordance with the protocol appended to the Litter Management Plan 2015-2019, locations where requests for bins receive priority primarily include:
- Town and village centres
- Vicinity of shops such as newsagents, food retailers, supermarkets
- Areas where people congregate e.g. bus stops, tram stops, post offices, public service buildings / offices
- Main routes to schools
- Larger parks greater than 16 hectares in size e.g. in the vicinity of play grounds and dog runs
Locations that are not considered suitable for litter bin as they tend to attract dumping, vandalism are:
- Residential areas with no mixed usage, in particular cul-de-sac type developments, as they attract dumping of household waste around the litter bins
- Parks less than 16 hectares in size where located in residential areas, unless some demonstrable demand exists that cannot be met by bin placement on street
With specific reference to "if open green spaces that exists in housing estates are considered as open public space": the Council's public realm operations units manage and maintain open spaces within housing estates where those estates are taken in charge.