The average family produces a tonne of waste a year and unless this is reduced Dublin will face a major waste disposal crisis soon, a senior Dublin Corporation official warned yesterday.
Mr John Fitzgerald, head of the cleansing division, said the volume of Dublin's domestic waste was growing at 3 per cent a year and disposing of it now required a landbank the size of St Stephen's Green, filled to the rooftop levels of surrounding buildings.
He issued his warning to coincide with a major initiative by the corporation to urge people to take simple measures to help reduce Dublin's 200,000-tonne domestic "waste mountain" by a quarter.
The measures are outlined in a magazine-style guide, The Art of Waste Management, which is being distributed to Dublin city's 172,000 households over the next two weeks. It is the first such guide produced by any local authority in the Republic.
Mr Fitzgerald conceded that it was becoming "more difficult" to secure sites for landfill. A plan to extend the Ballealy dump near Lusk, Co Dublin, is being strongly opposed, while residents of Kill, Co Kildare, claim the dump opened there breaches the terms of its permission.
To illustrate the scale of the problem, plastic refuse sacks containing a household's average yearly waste were piled up yesterday outside a house on Magennis Square, off Pearse Street, birthplace of the late comedian Danny Cummins.
The average family's yearly tonne of waste amounts to well over 100 refuse bags which, if piled high, would reach the eaves of the average semi-detached house. This was "clearly unsustainable" and it needed to be tackled urgently, Mr Fitzgerald said.
Mr Fitzgerald said the guide and the public education campaign accompanying it were "central planks in Dublin Corporation's campaign against waste". It aimed to encourage waste prevention, recycling and a "litter-free culture".
He noted that food and garden waste - all of it organic - accounts for 42 per cent of the city's domestic refuse. "If each household started a compost heap, this could be reduced to 32 per cent," he said. Advice on how to do so is contained in the guide.
"Recycling glass containers and drinks cans would also make a major contribution and could account for a reduction of 7 per cent, while the use of terry nappies rather than disposables could further reduce the city's refuse by 3 per cent," he said.
If people were to adopt the "sensible shopping practices" outlined in the guide - such as avoiding unnecessary packaging and using their own shopping bags - the plastic content of domestic waste could be reduced from 13 per cent to 8 per cent.
Asked whether there was a sufficiently-developed recycling infrastructure in the city, Mr Fitzgerald said that if more people availed of bottle or can banks, more of these facilities would be provided. But he stressed that people could also do a lot in their own homes.
The guide points out that consultants are preparing a new waste management strategy for Dublin, which is likely to be finalised before Christmas, and it emphasises the need for a new "partnership" with residents in dealing with the problem.
It also deals with litter prevention outside the home. "Fifty per cent of the litter in suburban areas of the city arises from poor presentation of refuse for collection," he said. "Adherence to a few simple rules would improve our roads and streets enormously."
Mr Fitzgerald said bins should only be put out on collection days, not the night before, and proper refuse bags should be used rather than "flimsy" supermarket bags. Dogs also needed to be kept under control as they could "litter a whole street in a matter of minutes".
Asked about the introduction of "wheelie-bins", the head of cleansing said this would be considered after the waste management consultancy study had been completed. But he believed that their use would have a "major role" to play in dealing with the city's litter problem.
