We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
AN INCREASED AMOUNT of litter has been spotted at public areas in recent weeks, with the improved weather and outdoor social meetings a possibility for many people.
As a result, Dublin City Council (DCC) has called for people to “act responsibly” and either use bins to discard their litter, or bring their rubbish home if there’s no bin available.
This is a sentiment reflected by other councils, with the situation expected to continue during the summer months.
The council said Dublin is “experiencing unprecedented levels of littering”.
There are more than 3,200 bins in the city with an extra 70 barrel bins at “litter hotspots” and more bins due to be installed, DCC said.
Barrel bins are used temporarily, usually for outdoor events. Street cleaners are working “around the clock” to deal with the increased litter, the council said.
In Cork, the county council is similarly asking people to bin their rubbish or bring it home if they can’t dispose of it responsibly.
This is being encouraged in “anticipation of an increase in daytrips and staycations across the county this summer”, the council said.
Cork county Mayor Mary Linehan Foley said: “When tackling the issue of litter, it is not just a case of putting out more bins and hoping that people will use them.
“We are asking people to treat their county like they would their own home. Plan your day and discuss what waste you are likely to generate.”
There are almost 1,000 bins in place across the county with most around areas like beaches and walkways.
A statement from Galway City Council said there has been an increase in litter “associated with the gatherings of large crowds” recently.
The council said its staff “do not engage with gatherings of people in line with Health and Safety and Government advice to ensure safety of staff and to maintain social distancing”.
“Staff enter these areas once the crowds disperse and clean as required to return the city to its high standards,” the statement said.
There are 20 large-capacity bins and more than 200 standard bins across the city.
The council added it will employ four extra temporary staff over the summer to “ensure that additional service demands are delivered efficiently” for the city’s bins.
Rubbish along the Royal Canal
Images on social media last weekend showed large amounts of rubbish around areas like the banks of the Royal Canal in Dublin.
Cabra-Glasnevin councillor Colm O’Rourke said a lot of local residents have been in contact about the litter.
“It’s a massive issue at the moment, particularly along the Royal Canal,” he told The Journal. “This stretch is beautiful, but the litter isn’t such a pleasant site.”
He said DCC and Waterways Ireland “need to up their game, especially for the summer months” to find a solution to the issues.
Waterways Ireland is responsible for maintaining this canal, and other navigable waterways across the country.
“With the warmer weather that we’ve seen and the lead up to the summer, it was obvious that more people would visit recreational areas such as canals, and therefore there’s going to be more litter,” O’Rourke said.
He said additional plans should be brought in to keep public areas litter-free beyond the pandemic so that “people can continue to enjoy time with friends outdoors”.
Senator John McGahon last Monday called for increased funding to local authorities and the Office of Public Works (OPW) to allow for volunteer community responses to help tackle growing litter problems in public areas.
“Over the weekend, we have once again seen images of overflowing bins and our public parks covered in litter,” McGahon said in a statement, in relation to last weekend.
“This is a growing problem that will only get worse if the theme of our summer is rightfully to be outdoors.”
Earlier this week, a number of OPW sites reopened again in line with government guidance.
The OPW said there has been a “notable increase in littering” across the country last weekend, including at heritage sites.
Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Patrick O’Donovan, said the public need to cooperate with staff to keep parks, gardens and heritage grounds “litter-free”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Perhaps the situation would improve if the council emptied bins more frequently. Finding multiple overflowing bins is quite common and people tire of carrying their litter for long distances.
@Rathminder: not an excuse for throwing rubbish in the ground. Always someone else to blame rather than take responsibility in this country. No public bins in Japan, they seem to manage
@Rathminder: That has to be the worst excuse ever. You get tired of carrying litter….? How did you get the litter in the first place, probably by carrying food and drink to wherever you are going. Strange how you don’t get tired carrying full items and have to throw away your food and drink
@Rathminder: personal responsibility…a empty coffee cup, a napkin etc does not take up space or weigh heavy!
@Eoin Scanlon: spot on
@Rathminder: when there are empty bins people start bringing household rubbish to them.
There is a cohort of irish people who are serial litterlouts. They have no respect for the environment we share, and are pure selfish.
We manage public toilets and they are constantly vandalised and rubbish stuffed in them to block them – every single weekend.
@Bleurgh:
i had some ‘off’ time a few years during a good weather year, i think 2011.
few days a week would take a walk to the Pheonix Park and just sit and chill out, the lack of bins from Castleknock gates all the way to the Zoo, was baffling.
Used to get me a coffee and sandwich on the way, the hardship of having to mash the sandwich wrapper into the empty cup, along with my ciggie ends, when heading home was very burdensome to carry until encounter any of the many bins in that part of Castleknock.
@Ixtrix Net: that must’ve been very difficult alright, carrying that and trying to smoke at the same time. I wish people would stop blaming the local authorities for everything, they don’t have the manpower to go around monitoring every area. The mind boggles.
@Rathminder: I was walking my dog through a park recently were I live. A group of youths were sitting and standing a bench drinking. A young girl finished her bottle of beer and just it on the grass. Less then 2 feet away was an empty bin. I tackled them on this and pointed out the empty bin. I am sick of people using the excuse of bins being full. Your rubbish your responsibility. Just bring it home with you.
@Laura Halpenny:
in fairness, i’d tend to roll a few before embarking on such an arduous journey
@Rathminder:
@Eoin Scanlon:
@HectorPickaxe:
It’s not an excuse, it’s just what is happening.
People will either pile it around a bin that’s already full, if they’re not being watched. Or dump it a short distance away when they’re not being seen.
There are no excuses but the fact is it the bin wasn’t full then their rubbish would have gone into it. But of course there are some who’d never even intend on walking over to a bin or go find a bin and just throw it where they are.
@Eoin Scanlon: this is not Japan.
The DCC took away loads of bins when the stopped the bin collections.
To discourage people that did not want to pay for refuse collection.
Put more bins back on the streets and empty them simples.
@Laura Halpenny: He is only asking for public bins to place the rubbish in. He was explaining that he is aware of rubbish and will certainly take it to a bin but there are so few in the largest public park in Europe. That is a lack. Personally I have a backpack which leaves my hands free, but he probably doesn’t want to use his pockets or carry one. These are factors that matter to the people who are perfectly willing to use bins if bins are provided.
@Eoin Scanlon: Japan has plenty of recycling bins, and it’s a society that even wraps gifts in recyclable fabric rather than single-use plastic. We buy way too much stuff in plastic – but that’s down to us feeling that it’s more hygienic. Japan has a different reason for taking away public bins. (The Sarin gas attacks.) Dublin had other excuses – my city used to have plenty of public bins and left-luggage lockers. Then we had the bomb scares. A lot of facilities were taken away last century for that reason.
@Fiona Fitzgerald:
yeah, i’ts been a while since those times for me, Chesterfield Avenue is almost 6km, but at that time , from Castleknock Gates, there was no bins for the first ~5km.
And yeah, i’d have my backpack too, pretty much empty beyond a paper notebook and some pens, mostly just to sit/lie on.
Pretty sure Laura was just following onto my kinda sardonic humor though
I can’t believe people have to be told to do this. This is basic human decency like wiping your ar$e after the bathroom. If I see someone dropping litter, it determines wy whole opinion of them. It really a a disgusting thing to do.
@Nessa Brady: Absolutely, since I was a child it was ingrained in me never to litter, if we went to a beach you brought your litter home. Leaving glass on a beach was the worst sin ever.
This was passed on to my own children, they in turn don’t litter and now some will pass it on to their children. Somehow the most basic messages are not being taught to kids, sad really.
@Nessa Brady: We wait patiently, to be judged.
@Arch Angel: I had the same good example shown to me. Along with money back on glass bottles – which were recycled in Ireland at the time – that was why it was rare to see any stray bottles lying around. Along with charities that collected stamps & foil etc to raise funds. These days I often see rubbish blowing out of bins that are already full. I’m not as inclined to blame other people. I’ve seen several seagulls yanking bags out of the bins in town to look for fish & chips!
My dad used to go mad if we even dropped a sweet paper on the ground. I don’t know how somebody has total disregard for their surroundings and environment.
People are lazy…simple. As a kid we went on walks, picnics, beaches etc at weekends cos it was the 80s and nothing else to do!
There were no bins and we were able to bring our rubbish home with us.
Imagine, cleaning up after yourself and not blaming authorities.
There is no excuse but people will not bring it home, bigger bins and maybe a few fines may help but the general mindset will not change.
@der Fussballmeister: Agreed, fine, tax, short term fix, “pipe down you lot” and it’s back to bed.
@thesaltyurchin:
What’s your solution Bud ?
In 2013, on a Saturday night, I was visiting Cork city and stopped for a coffee in one of the main squares. Customers of pubs, fast food outlets, shops etc, left the square completely thrashed. It was awful to see so many people behave that way (whether sober or not).
Not sounding like the saviour of whatever but there’s been a huge plastic sheeting or tarpaulin…I mean huge..outside a man’s house up the road for the last week or so…I was interested to see how long it’d take the effer to pick it up..still hasn’t so I’m going to get industrial size bag today and get that effer to help me get it off the road and path – he’s probably waiting for the council to come and do it – seriously, it’s even causing danger to drivers due to part of it on the road. The guy is just looking at it everyday and isn’t bothered…laziness plays a big part in people just throwing stuff about.
@Laura Halpenny: just went down to him in my grubby clothes and asked him to help me get it off the path and road. He actually said “ah shur it’s only a bit of plastic”. Couldn’t believe it…and then he says “I should’ve done it already”. Only that someone knocked on his door and said it he wouldn’t have bothered. Mad.
@Laura Halpenny: well done Laura.
Only issue is most people who litter don’t read so it’s a bad incentive get go.
@Sadie b: I bet if there was a cash incentive to recycle more, it would happen again. Plenty of countries have centres where they pay for reusable materials and containers.
It really shows the amount of lowlife’s walking among us!
@Anto Harris: We don’t understand the value of quality as a people, stemming back hundreds of years AND we’re currently creating generations of people with an ‘f u’ attitude, honestly I cant say I blame them, why should they care?
If people can carry it with them to use it then they can carry the rubbish home. No excuse.
It’s the way you are reared as they say. Classic example – have you ever looked around a cinema floor after a movie to see the amount of rubbish people feel they are “entitled” to drop on the floor just because there are cleaners or the cost is built into the admission price. It is a great source of pride to me to see my adult children and now my grandchildren stop to collect their litter and bring it outside the cinema to the large bins provided. Civic duty and civic pride tells a lot about a person and has not gone out of fashion. Bin your rubbish or bring it home, simple message!
@Geraldine O’Brien: Precisely Geraldine! It is the way you are reared, if taught from an early age that littering is wrong then there’s a good chance you’ll carry that through life and pass it on to the next generation. These people must have been dragged up, not reared!
Everyone gets thicker after a few beers. More bins and more signage. Civic duty is important. Leave no trace shouldn’t only be for rural settings it should be for urban ones as well.
@Twitruser2021: Exactly, go into town on a sunny day, drunk people everywhere! You really think taking litter home is an option after 4-13 cans of Linden Village?!
@John Murray: I’m convinced that if those cans were worth a few bob, they would be returned for cash. That’s my two cents worth!
Slightly different subject but can people please stop using bottle banks as bring centres, just go to a bring centre for god sake
@kevin mc cormack: what do you mean?
@kevin mc cormack: Eh???
@kevin mc cormack: I’ve never understood what is a “bring centre” – why are they not just called recycling centres?
@kevin mc cormack: I’m not sure what you mean – a lot of local people support charities by recycling their glass in a bottle bank within walking distance. Are you saying that they should drive to a bring centre and have them profit from the extra glass instead?
Howth has an enormous influx of people every weekend and in summer, every day. It’s a great atmosphere and fun for everyone. The litter after last weekend was unreal. There are lots of bins, but not enough. The council are out at 7 a.m. cleaning up every morning. But two things spring to mind – the council could empty bins during the day at weekends. And if there is no space in the bins, people could do the decent thing and take their litter with them. I was walking at the harbour front yesterday evening. Plenty of space in the bins, but people had left their rubbish beside them, not in them. The seagulls were busy trying to rip the bags apart. I don’t understand how someone can go to the trouble of walking to the bin, but instead of using it, they dump their rubbish beside it. Laziness.
@Deborah Blacoe: dont think that there’s a lack of bins Deborah – more a lack of conscience I think.
@Deborah Blacoe: Oddly enough, it’s often drivers who dump their rubbish. Why they can’t keep a bag in the boot for their rubbish is a mystery.
This, along with not washing hands or cleaning up after dogs shows how lazy we are when it comes to taking any sort of responsibility. Its not hard to bring the litter with you home in the bag you brought them in!
On the subject – how many people pick up their dog poo when out walking their dogs..very few – that’s another thing that pees me off – I have to keep scanning the path when I’m out walking – and that’s one thing I’m not going to pick up!!
@Laura Halpenny: I agree 100%, young and old guilty of this.
@Helen Leahy: Agreed. I’m even grateful to see the poo bags hanging at eye-level on park railings – one less to avoid stepping in. I’ve seen one dog poo bin in five km and that was outside a pet shop.
Where there is speeding hotspots for car, speed van are placed there. Why not where there is a large gathering, a few litter wardens arrive on, give them 5% of all fines collected. It would be a turkey shoot for the wardens and people will start bringing their rubbish away with them
@Patrick O Connell: Whoa, that makes way too much sense, it’s Ireland after all!
I don’t know if there is any equivalent version of “Civics” being taught in our schools these days but I remember that when we did Civics (many moons ago) we learned that although citizens did have “rights” more importantly citizens had “RESPONSIBILITIES” which underpinned those rights. How you you treated fellow citizens, how you respected public and private property. How you held on to certain human values regarding society and respect for others. Everything from a simple please & thank you to holding a door for someone or giving up your seat. nobody seems do these things anymore. It’s all gone now, it’s been pretty much lost in so many in this generation so what hope do we have for the future. Too spoilt, too self-absorbed, to entitled, too disassociated.
It’s all mammy’s fault, cos she never taught little johnny to pick up after himself, she just did it for him !!!
@Larry Williams: and fathers have no responsibility in teaching little Johnny?
Well maybe get gardai to tackle littering and hand out fines, if we can have them mounting checkpoints and covid restrictions, let’s at least put that garda overtime bill to good use and have them help target these litter mob. But in saying that I think more larger bins need to be put at parks and beaches as well, cos what is there can fill up fast and they don’t get emptied to match this….
I totally agree with binning your litter if there were bins provided.
The Councils have a responsibility to provide bins so why are people putting 100% blame on the Public.
This has been an issue for many years and the councils and TDs couldn’t care less. The management is third world rather than a wealthy country. It isn’t difficult, increase the crew, have provision for festive times, crews cleaning continuing and at anti social hours. Provision of equipment for disposal, regularly empty them, crews out and about cleaning … and of course dogs and littering wardens working on weekends and after office hours
People won’t take it home, they are disposing on neighbors private refuse, neighbors with the highest property tax and people are using their properties as toilets and landfills, even heritage properties people take them as a place to hid their shit
Dublin had 3,500 litter bins in 2013. That was when Dublin had a population of 527,612.
Even with the extra 70 bins today total is only 2370 bins. Bins are mostly located outside shops with Dublin city centre allegedly have bins serviced a number of times per day
‘BIN EMPTYING AND MAINTENANCE
The servicing of litter bins varies depending on the location of the individual bin. Bins in the City Centre area are serviced a number of times per day due to high usage and prominent location. In suburbs and urban villages, bins in small local retail areas are serviced twice per day. Bins in residential estates are generally serviced once a day.’
https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/media/file-uploads/2018-07/LitterManagementPlan2016018.pdf
Maybe it’s time to mobilise tidy towns volunteers around beauty hotspots to collect rubbish 24/7. Their charity towards other cleans up more rubbish than 100 council officials sitting in air conditioned offices. Devising plans to save money short term while sounding important.
@leartius: Good points. I’d say a lot of former volunteers are reluctant to do as much as they used to. They obviously made a great difference when they were more active. I used to pick up rubbish and drop it in a bin without thinking twice. These days I’d put gloves on first.
As soon as everything opens up the litter problem will go away, people will have places to go.
@Heisen berg1: No it won’t. The same people will just be doing the same littering somewhere else.
@Heisen berg1: No, it won’t. I live in a scenic area and the problem is constant.
@Heisen berg1: Absolutely no chance of that happening, some of the young ones today didn’t get a slap for littering when younger. Some kids know the effect of littering but alot don’t.
@Laura Halpenny: not only that they’ve gone to schools where they’re bombarded with environmental issues and they have green flags and they get awards for being so environmentally aware. The minute they leave school they regress to ignorance like they never heard of the environment. They’ll boast about how woke they are compared to us oldies. Newsflash, they’re worse than any other generation.
@Laura Halpenny: Ah. So is that why some people are so bitter nowadays? The lessons were beaten into them?
Waste is one of the next big public issues. The amount of it that businesses generate that we supposedly ‘need’ to consume is ridiculous. Every-time I drag the different wheely bin out the front, it feels such an archaic approach to to disposal. No idea where it goes, what the company does with it, but who cares, not my problem. Industry needs to bit hit crazy hard, single use plastic should be banned, packaging should be disposed closer to the point of purchase. Refill, etc. Obviously there’ll be the usual “I want it now” demands like we know so well here in Ireland but really what are we doing to ensure that the practise of disposal is all but gone in 20 years? Probs nothing I would say.
The scrotes don’t care
Not enough bins
have your say