Calls for overhaul with Ireland's waste collection like 'the wild west'

The country's biggest trade union SIPTU has called for a radical overhaul of domestic waste collection to end what it says is duplication of services and dramatically cut back on illegal dumping which is costing nearly €1 million a year in Dublin alone to collect.

SIPTU Public Administration and Community Division Organiser, Adrian Kane, said: “RTÉ is today reporting on the extraordinary costs of illegal dumping in Dublin. This issue is due to the structural problems in our domestic waste collection services."

The issue is not a Dublin-only problem and there are regular reports of illegal dumping across the country.

“Ireland is the wild west of domestic waste collection," Mr Kane continued.

"Nowhere else in Europe is there side-by-side competition within the same local authority area between waste collection services. This leads to a situation where we have multiples of trucks in excess of what is required covering the same collection routes. This leads to unnecessary traffic congestion and increased carbon emissions. 

“In addition, one in four households have no domestic waste collection service. We have designed a dysfunctional system which directly results in increased illegal dumping. When local authorities operated the system all domestic waste was collected and those who couldn’t afford the service were subsidised by local government. Without this subvention it increases the likelihood of illegal dumping.”

He added: “There needs to be a radical reform of the domestic waste collection system which allows local authorities to re-enter it. We are currently awaiting the results of a feasibility study commissioned by Dublin City Council concerning the remunicipalisation of the domestic waste collection service in the city. This may well present us with the best way forward for domestic waste collection services in Ireland.”