Kerry County Council is to carry out door-to-door checks of householders to ascertain how they dispose of waste.
Director of environment services Philip O'Sullivan told yesterday's meeting of the council that the checks would stop short of a full audit of the whole county but would be conducted on a spot-check basis without warning.
He said local authorities were empowered to carry out checks under the Waste Management Acts, and Kerry County Council had already spoken to some householders.
Fine Gael councillor Bobby O'Connell had called for the audit after the council revealed its total customer base was just 8,000 and that it was losing €1 million a year in trying to provide a waste collection service in what was a very rural county of scattered villages and houses.
Mr O'Sullivan said customers paid around €350 a year for their collection. Recycling facilities and a pay-by-lift service had seen a dramatic decrease in the frequency in which householders availed of a collection. Bins were now being left out once a month rather than once a week.
There were also calls for a clampdown on abuses of the waiver system. A quarter of the council's customers are dealt with under this system.