COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, May 10, 2021
QUESTION NO.1
QUESTION: Councillor William Joseph Carey
To ask the Chief Executive that, in light of the obvious and increasingly heavy usage of public bins in our parks and areas of food outlets in our villages because covid restrictions has led to public and open spaces seeing greater usage, can SDCC outline if there are plans to increase the schedule of maintaining and emptying these bins and to provide a report on this matter.
REPLY:
South Dublin County Council parks have seen a huge increase in footfall and usage of facilities during the various periods and levels of Covid 19 restrictions, particularly during those periods where movement has been restricted to within a 5km radius of home. This has resulted in an increase in usage of litter bins and unfortunately an increase in litter in parks in general.
South Dublin County Council put in place increased cleaning and litter bin servicing in April/May 2020 and this has remained in place at all times throughout the pandemic, at a substantial increase in cost to the Council. The servicing of litter bins in parks at weekends is a relatively new aspect of the cleansing and litterbin 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. In light of ongoing issues regarding overflowing bins in a number of park locations, arrangements are being made for the installation of additional bins at these locations. These additional bins are considered a temporary measure and may be removed at a later date when restrictions are eased and usage of the park and park litter bins returns to normal.
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 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 like to appeal to all park users as follows –
- If a litter bin is full, please do not leave litter or bagged dog waste beside the bin or on top of it. Instead please either take your waste home or put it in another litter bin.
- Weekends are particularly busy in our parks during lockdown. While the parks litter bins are serviced over the weekends and at bank holidays, it is not always possible to service bins before they become full nor is it possible to service them multiple times in one day.
- The Council would like to appeal to park users to apply the 'Leave no trace' principle and to take their waste home for disposal if at all possible and to deal with their waste items in a responsible manner.
The Council would like to direct members of the public to the www.mywaste.ie website as well as to the Council website www.sdccc.ie for information and tips on good environmental practice in the management and recycling of waste.