Litter Mgt Plan - TCC Submission

[Tara De buitlear]

 

 

A Chara,

 

This is a high level submission from Tallaght Community Council (TCC) to the SDCC Litter plan 2011 before the June 9th 2011 deadline.

 

Background

 

TCC is a voluntary,apolitical community group, who is committed to being an advocate for the community interests in Tallaght and to being solutions based in our approach.

 

TCC see a number of factors at play in the mix around the worsening litter situation in Tallaght and the wider SDCC county area,

 

- Increasing Costs - Introduction of bin charges - for some residents

- Inconsistent service from private waste management services e.g. bin collections, skip companies

- Growing landlord / tenant households - lack of clarity of responsibilities

- Increasing regulation of electrical waste etc

- Frequency of SDCC supported junk collections - at best once every 3 years

- Appeal of managing waste through fly tipping - lack of sufficient monitoring and prosecution

- Appeal and ease of using the seasonal bon fire to "empty your shed" for free

 

TCC are looking to propose tactical activities, within the gift of SDCC to launch and manage locally - there are strategic factors and proposals which TCC would be happy to discuss with SDCC in the future. The objective of this would be to influence national strategy & policy in this area.

 

Tactical Observations & Suggestions 

 

- Define, launch & champion a local initiative to work alongside the "Tidy Districts" to promote and give visibility to what SDCC believe is best practice for a residential area & a business - this should include tangible metrics & SDCC.ie should be used to promote & measure local objectives to establish of improve performance.

What's measured gets done.

 

- Set Local Challenge areas - e.g. clearn up protocol at sporting events- every sporting team who use a public ground should be advised of their role in cleaning up after their use of the ground& their liability for any littering of their teams or spectators

- More governance of events for litter on/ immdiately after the events - 7 days cover

- Highlight & actively measure SDCC's position in national litter survey on SDCC.ie - act as an encouragement to improve or maintain position - foster competitive pride.

- Audit the number of bins in country, with a clear interactive map of bin in county - where are the litter black spots - do they correlate ? bins should be employed as part of the solution to any litter mgt programme.

- To review the impact of the current HR issues i.e work practices with bin collections - locations / access & times.
- To define & monitor what the annual targets are for bins in public places across the county - a counter on sdcc.ie would help drive awareness & PR for this.

- To publish a list of new bin locations & replacements on SDCC.ie each month
- To agree a policy that would ensure that all public parks who have sports facilities on it or playgrounds should have at least one bin in it.

- To have a fines counter on SDCC.ie  - how many cases reported, cases taken to court - fines issued - prove credible evidence that if you break the law in terms of litter - rubbish or dumping other material e.g. toxic waste, construction waste material etc. Name and publically shame offenders.

- Reward businesses & groups who actively engage in litter mgt activities - you need carrot & stick.

- Recognise the llitter free areas abnd beauty spots on a monthly basis on sdcc.ie

- Use Twitter / social media to report & target resources for litter mgt in SDCC.ie - ensure continuous vigilence and consequence is clearly visible to all stakeholders in having a litter free environment in SDCC area.

- Work with TCC to have a link the Tallaght Person of the Year awards (environment category) and the local efforts to encourage active citizneship in this area.

- Review the number & workload of the litter wardens & environment dept against the litter mgt needs of the county- actively engage with changes to work practices where necessary to ensure the right resources are targetting the right areas to ensure Tallaght is a litter free zone.

- Foster respect & personal responsibility at school going age through existing & further school campaigns e.g. green flag etc.

- Clearly outline the cost and benefit to groups and businesses from sponsoring a litter mgt project e.g. clean up, community junk collection, bin installation on sdcc.ie - run a promotion & recruitment campaign to achieve a good presence of litter bins in Tallaght as the county town. This should be the showcase location for SDCC.ie

- Align the Tidy Districts with school awareness weeks& An Tasice's Spring Clean up

- Review the seasonal drivers to litter e.g christmas & Halloween - be proactive with the mgt of the calender of junk collections to ensure you minimise the household rubbish around these pressure points.

 

TCC are available to give futher detail behind these observations & suggestions to ensure a full review & revision of the litter mgt strategy and action plan is completed and Tallaght's position in the IBAL ranking is improved.

 

Le meas,

 

Tara De Buitlear - PRO

 

PP Jim Lawlor - Chair