{"id":288106,"date":"2026-02-09T01:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/288106\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T01:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T01:09:11","slug":"dublin-city-council-facing-financial-emergency-due-to-deposit-return-scheme-clean-up-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/288106\/","title":{"rendered":"Dublin City Council facing ‘financial emergency’ due to Deposit Return Scheme clean-up costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Councillors claim that a serious public health and safety situation is being caused as a direct result of the scheme<\/p>\n

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) that was launched to much fanfare on February 1, 2024 as a \u201conce-in-a-generation\u201d development that would herald \u201cexciting benefits\u201d<\/p>\n

Dublin City Council is facing a \u201cfinancial emergency\u201d as a direct result of the national Deposit Return Scheme<\/a> it is being claimed following the disclosure that it is costing the local authority \u20ac1 million in clean up costs.<\/p>\n

Searching of public and private bins for returnable plastic bottles and cans to make money needs to be financially checked, councillors are warning.<\/p>\n

An emergency motion is to be heard by the council<\/a> at its monthly meeting on Monday night questioning how the local authority\u2019s operations and finances are being impacted by abuse of the return scheme – each can or bottle is worth a minimum 15 cents if brought to designated disposal banks.<\/p>\n

The Independent group of councillors are questioning the financial fall-out of the scheme due to chief executive Richard Shakespeare\u2019s recent revelation that there is a \u20ac1 million annual deficit directly linked to it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Re-turn machines for bottles and cans (Image: Gareth Chaney\/Collins)<\/p>\n

The group, led by former Lord Mayors of Dublin Niall Ring and Christy Burke are demanding that the council commissions \u201ca comprehensive impact study and financial audit to determine the exact cost of street cleaning, bin maintenance, and pest control directly attributable to the unauthorised searching of public and private bins for returnable plastic bottles and cans\u201d.<\/p>\n

They want the study to specifically investigate the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences’ arising from the scheme.<\/p>\n

Cllr Ring said that the chief executive needs to \u201cformally engage with the Department of the Environment and the scheme operator, Re-turn, to seek full cost-recovery for these additional operational expenses, ensuring that the council does not continue to subsidise the national scheme through increased cleaning costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWhat is happening represents an immediate and unbudgeted financial emergency that requires urgent oversight to prevent further loss of public funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The councillors claim that a serious public health and safety situation is being caused as a direct result of the scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe practice of scavenging has created an unexpected and dangerous situation on our streets,\u201d explained Cllr Burke.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe systematic emptying of bins on footpaths creates immediate trip hazards and provides a significant food source for vermin and seagulls, which must be seen as a public health risk,\u201d he noted<\/p>\n

As the Council is currently considering retrofitting bins with new locking mechanisms to combat the issue, the Independent group of councillors believe \u201can immediate study\u201d is required to ensure that such capital expenditure is \u201cevidence-based and effective\u201d.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Councillors claim that a serious public health and safety situation is being caused as a direct result of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,13288,61,60,3751],"class_list":["post-288106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-dublin-city-council","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-recycling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}