The Council’s new litter plan could shape how clean our streets are for the next three years. But is it strong enough? Here is what CRA wants changed.
Draft Litter Management Plan
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council prepared a Draft Litter Management Plan for 2027–2029.
The Council then put the Draft Plan out for public consultation. The Draft Plan is no longer available publicly.
The consultation ran from 14 August to 11 September 2026.
The Council will finalise and approve the Litter Management Plan for 2027–2029 in due course.
How the consultation worked
The Council set rules for how people and organisations could give their views.
It asked respondents to answer 18 specific questions about the Draft Plan.
Respondents could submit their views with up to 2,000 characters for each question.
This meant that people could not make a general, free-form submission.
CRA’s submission
Within these limits, the Clonskeagh Residents’ Association (CRA) made a submission to the consultation. The Association’s submission can be downloaded here.
The Association raised a number of key points.
Protecting the environment
The Draft Plan should explain much more clearly why protecting the environment is important.
It should also explain the role that litter control and management can play in protecting the environment.
Use more historical data
The Draft Plan is mainly made up of narratives on different litter-related topics.
CRA believes the Plan would be much stronger if it included more historical data.
This could include information about:
- The County’s litter problems over time.
- The Council’s litter control resources.
- The Council’s litter management resources.
- How the County’s litter problem has changed.
This information would help readers understand the scale of the litter problem and how it has developed.
Waste bins at apartments
The Council should take a more active role in dealing with the presentation, collection and removal of waste, recycling and compost bins at multi-unit developments, such as apartment blocks.
Review the legislation
The laws and rules on litter control and management have developed over time.
They come from a mix of:
- European Union legislation.
- Oireachtas legislation.
- Council legislation and regulations.
CRA believes the Council should raise this issue with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and seek to have any gaps filled.
Review the Plan every year
The Council should review its Litter Management Plan every year.
It should not wait until the end of the three-year period.
An annual review would allow the Council to make changes when circumstances change.
Greater responsibility for retailers
The Council, with support from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, should seek greater producer responsibility from retailers.
This could include:
- Encouraging retailers to reduce packaging.
- Making retailers responsible for cleaning the area around their premises.
- Asking retailers to help fund litter management infrastructure.
This could help tackle:
- Cigarette litter.
- Vape litter.
- Plastic packaging litter.
More Smart Bins
The Council plans to replace 54% of its litter bins because they have reached the end of their working life.
CRA believes this replacement programme should be accelerated.
The Council should also buy more Smart Bins for areas where the population and number of buildings are increasing.
Litter awareness
CRA welcomes the Council’s plan to increase litter awareness across the County.
Raising public awareness is an important part of tackling litter.
CCTV surveillance
CRA also welcomes the planned phased return of CCTV surveillance at litter and fly-tipping blackspots.
However, the Association asked the Council to publish an annual report on this surveillance.
The report should show:
- How the CCTV programme performed.
- What effect it had on litter control.
Set clear annual targets
CRA believes that one of the main weaknesses of the Draft Plan is the lack of SMART annual targets.
SMART means:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
The Council should set SMART annual targets for its different litter activities and manage these activities to achieve the targets.
It should then regularly review its performance against these targets.
This would allow the Council to move resources when circumstances change.
Publish a litter dashboard
More importantly, the Council should publish an easy-to-understand litter dashboard.
The dashboard should show:
- The Council’s annual litter targets.
- Its actual performance against those targets.
- Its explanation of how the litter control and management are evolving
Ideally, this information should be provided at Electoral Area level, rather than only at County level.
This would:
- Improve public awareness of the litter problem.
- Show how well the Litter Management Plan is working.
- Help local people see what is happening in their area.
Learn from other cities
Finally, CRA believes the Council should look at how other large cities deal with litter.
The Council should examine the litter control and management policies, practices and operations used in cities such as:
- Munich
- Prague
- Copenhagen
The aim would be to identify ideas that could be successfully used in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.
This could help the County improve its approach to litter control and management.