COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 09, 2019

QUESTION NO. 3

QUESTION: Councillor Teresa Costello

To ask the Chief Executive what is the timeline for collection of illegally dumped rubbish from time of report to litter Warden Inspection to collection?

REPLY:

All incidents of littering and illegal dumping reported or detected in any area are investigated by the Council's Litter Warden Service and all dumped material is searched for evidence. Where evidence is found, the appropriate enforcement action is taken under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, as amended. Increasingly, it is found that no personal information relating to polluters is contained within the dumped material, with personal information having been removed or shredded.

Once inspected, the Litter Warden informs the Public Operations section who arrange for a collection of the materials as soon as possible, usually within one day.

Additionally, the Council's Public Realm staff are engaged in the picking of litter and removal of illegally dumped waste on a daily basis around the County. The Public Realm Section also provides a service to collect waste from clean up activities carried out by Tidy Towns and Resident Associations groups.  These collections are arranged through the Council's operation of a social credits scheme.  In general the Public Realm Section will provide the waste collection on the day requested by the residents group.  For example if the clean up is carried out on a Saturday, which many of them are, then the residents group will likely request the collection of the waste for the following Monday. 

Dumping, Litter and Graffiti is managed in accordance with the provisions of the Litter Pollution Act 1997 as amended, Annual Action Plans developed as part of the Litter Management Plan (LMP) 2014-2019.  

A review of the Litter Management Plan 2015-2019 is underway for the purposes of drafting a revised statutory plan for the period 2020-2024 for consideration.