Massive surge in illegal dumping

THERE has been over 600 incidents of illegal dumping reported in the Dublin North West area so far this year according to a recent council report.

The 603 reports, along with 27 litter offences, represent a 40 per cent rise on last year’s figures, indicating the council is struggling in its battle with serial offenders.

Local councillor, David Costello (FF) says that while officials are encouraging residents to be responsible with their waste management, he believes the council should consider reassuming control of waste in the area.

“The recent figures suggest that illegal dumping looks like it’s going to beat last year’s figures by about 40 per cent,” Costello told Northside People.

“And they’re only reported cases, that doesn’t cover the entirety of the situation. The major problem is house sharing where you might have five or six people living in the one house and not one of them is taking responsibility to pay for a bin service so they end up just dumping their rubbish all over the North Circular road.

“In hindsight, Dublin City Council probably should have never let go of control of bin control in the first place. You can say it was their fault for letting go of the bins, you can say it was their fault for doing this, but the simple fact of the matter is that private bin collection hasn’t worked.”

Dublin City Council ceased control of bin collection in 2011 when a management consultancy firm recommended the council exit the market and transfer business to the private sector.

Two private waste companies then struck deals with the council shortly after to assume control of waste management services across the city, but before long, other competitors entered the market, which has recently seen a stark increase in collection fees.

Dublin City Council was losing millions a year on refuse collection prior to privatisation, and despite the rise in collection fees and the introduction of pay-by-weight charges, Costello would like to see landlords assume responsibility for waste charges as a possible alternative to the council reassuming control of the issue.

“One of the solutions that I’ve suggested, which I think is logical, is to make the landlord responsible for providing a bin service with their property as part of the rent that they charge,” added Costello

“At least then you have a large cohort of people that would have bins provided automatically as part of their rent. 

“You might think that’s a good idea or a bad idea or whatever, but at least you’d have people using bins.”