Fewer bins on Dublin’s streets than in 2024, but capacity is up, says council
The number of bins on Dublin’s streets fell between the beginning of 2024 and the end of last year, according to figures released by Dublin City Council (DCC).
Between January 2024 and November last year, the number of local authority bins on the streets of the capital fell slightly from 3,242 to 3,173.
This figure does not include park bins, of which there are a few hundred.
Since 2018, when DCC began recording bin statistics, the number on city streets has climbed steadily in recent years.
The dip comes amid the council’s “No More Rubbish Excuses” advertising campaign, launched across billboards, radio and social media in October, which urges Dubliners not to litter.
The council said: “The message is clear; there is no excuse for littering in Dublin.”
A spokesperson for the council said that while the number of bins has dropped slightly in the last year, the increasing prevalence of so-called belly bins, which compact their waste, means that bin capacity in the city has continued to grow.
These bins can hold up to five times the waste of a standard bin, they said, with the number rising sharply from 58 in 2018 to 411.
Accordingly, the capacity of the city’s bins has grown.
The council also said bin removals never take place in the vicinity of “genuine litter generators”, but they usually occur where consistent abuse or illegal dumping takes place”.
“Sometimes residents will completely fill public litter bins with their own private household waste and leave full bags of household rubbish beside a bin for DCC to collect,” they said.
“When a bin is consistently being targeted for illegal dumping, we remove the bin entirely as the amount of rubbish left beside these bins can greatly outweigh the benefit they provide.”
The spokesperson said damaged bins are typically replaced, but if there is a consistent pattern of abuse, then it will be removed permanently.
Bins are added, they said, at the request of council-employed local area inspectors, councillors or residents’ associations, or where redevelopment of an area takes place.
The figures also show that there are currently 58 dog bins on city streets, despite the council not installing any new facilities of this type since 2016.
Heritage-style bins, with distinctive black and gold colouring, have also been gradually declining in prominence, falling from 573 in 2018 to 510 last year.
Last September, DCC added another 100 people to DCC’s waste management roster, bringing it to 540 personnel.
Derek Kelly, DCC’s head of environment, said at the time that the council was stepping up its resourcing of waste services.
“But I think the public needs to recognise that they can do better as well. I think that’s really important,” he said.
“There’s over 3,000 litter bins in the city. There’s never one too far away.”