COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 12, 2021

QUESTION NO.9

QUESTION: Councillor M. Duff

In view of the increased footfall across all of the major Parks in the County, could the Manager inform this Council if there is a plan in place to increase the amount of times that litter bins are emptied in all Park, especially over the busy times, such as the weekends and Public Holidays. The public perception is that the Council ignores the overflowing bins in the Parks and this negative publicity is being repeated on Social Media posts.

REPLY:

The Council's Public Realm Section services approximately 700 street litter bins around the County as well as approximately 150 litter bins in park locations.  These bins are serviced daily by a variety of staff working out of the 6 public realm operational depots, the street litter bins are serviced by 5 staff operating sideloading trucks and collecting bins on their own dedicated route each day while park litter bins are serviced also daily by park maintenance staff who are engaged in other work such as park cleaning.  The daily service of a litter bin involves inspection of each litter bin to determine if it needs to be serviced and when it does the bin is emptied, if it contains only a small amount of litter then it is left to the next collection day to be emptied.  The 150 park litter bins are spread across many parks across the county however the majority of these bins are located in the main parks of Tymon, Corkagh, Griffeen, Sean Walsh, Rathcoole, Rathfarnham and Waterstown Parks.

Both aspects of the litter bin service operate on a Monday to Friday basis, with bins also emptied on one or other of the weekend days.  When a bank holiday occurs bins are also serviced on the bank holiday. At both Christmas and Easter where a number of public holidays occur together it is necessary to put particular arrangements in place in accordance with how the days fall.  The servicing of litter bins in parks at weekends is a relatively new aspect of the service, it was introduced in the first instance on bank holiday weekends in the four main parks and was then increased in the early days of Covid 19 restrictions to cover all park litter bins being serviced once over each weekend as well as on bank holidays when they occur. The cost of the weekend element of the cleaning and litter bin services which are currently in place in town and village centres and in parks is approximately €260,000 per year.

The Council's Public Realm Section continues to examine ways to respond to the issues of increased footfall in parks which results in increased litter bin usage and an increase in litter on the ground.  A number of items are being considered at present including the possible provision of temporary litter bins as well as an examination of the role of the park ranger and how this service could possibly help to alleviate the problem.   

It is clear that litter is at times being left beside and on top of litter bins by people using the parks for legitimate purposes. It is most likely the case that these park users see this as responsible disposal of waste items such as coffee cups etc however these items usually end up on the ground, scattered around the park and contributing to the litter problem.  The Council would appeal to all park users as follows, and it is intended that these messages will be promoted through social media platforms over the coming weeks –