COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 11, 2019

QUESTION NO. 18

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask the Chief Executive for a report into how SDCC can and is stopping the use of one use plastics within Council owned buildings? Also to estimate the amount of less waste since the introduction of keep cups ?

REPLY

Plastic water cups have been removed from the building and products such as plastic salad containers have been removed from the canteen. There has been a large drop in single use coffee cups from the coffee dock following the introduction of the conscious cup campaign. As new contracts are signed or contracts come up for renewal, these initiatives are included in the new contracts. The management of the coffee dock is currently actively assessing an alternative re-usable cup for its customers.

South Dublin County Council has issued over a 920 conscious cups over 3 campaigns. It is estimated that each conscious cup diverts 1,000 single use cups from landfill over a 3 year period. It is therefore estimated that the cups issued by SDCC will result in 920,000 less single use cups being sent to landfill.

South Dublin will be raising awareness and encouraging everyone to be more consious of their choices during European Week for Waste reduction which runs 16-24 November.

SDCC is also currently introducing and promoting public water fountains to encourage the use of reusable bottles.

We have also amended the application process for events taking place in SDCC Parks. All event organisers planning to hold an event in a public park must apply for approval prior to an event taking place.  A new condition in relation to prohibiting the use of single use plastics has been included under the terms and conditions attached to an application where approval is granted. 

Weekly events such as the Parkruns which currently take place in Corkagh Park, Tymon Park, Griffeen Valley Park and Waterstown Park do not provide any refreshments for participants. It is a bring your own policy, which generally consists of refillable bottles.