Fianna Fáil Senator Teresa Costello has said that regulations around the sale of skip bags must be tightened, as skip bags are increasingly being dumped across Dublin.
The Fianna Fáil Senator raised the issue in the Seanad and said that she has received reports of dumped skip bags in areas such as Firhouse, Knocklyon, and Tallaght.
“Illegal dumping is becoming a serious problem across our communities, and skip bags are increasingly part of it,” she said.
Costello said that “companies shouldn’t be able to profit from selling bags that can be filled with huge amounts of waste, only for them to be illegally dumped, and South Dublin County Council, and ultimately the taxpayer, are left to clean up the mess.”
The Dublin South-West Senator called for skip bags to be registered and booked for collection by an authorised waste collector, and for skip bags to have a unique identification number to identify the purchaser if that bag subsequently turns up dumped illegally.
Senator Costello said that “bags are relatively inexpensive and can hold a substantial amount of waste. Unlike hiring a conventional skip, a person can purchase a skip bag from a retail outlet without creating a clear record linking the bag to the purchaser.”
“If a skip bag is sold, there should be a way to trace it and ensure the waste is disposed of properly,” she said.
Senator Costello has contacted the Minister for the Environment, Darragh O’Brien, to discuss tightening regulations and traceability around skip bags.
“These are all areas where the residents work tirelessly to keep their communities clean. To those dumping, shame on them,” she said.