The Lord Mayor of Dublin has called for the Deposit Return Scheme to compensate the capital for the estimated €351,000 annual cost of bin scavenging. 

Since the Deposit Return Scheme was introduced cut litter by an estimated 55%, with over 800 million bottles returned through the scheme every year. 

However, it has also fuelled a rise in ‘bin scavenging’ in which people rummage through bins to find bottles and cans that can be exchanged for cash from the scheme. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Lord Mayor Daryl Barron said the cost of cleaning up after bin scavenging is substantial. 

“It's going to cost us about €1,000 a day or about €351,000 a year in operational costs for our waste management team,” he explaind. 

“I've been out and about with them on a night shift there recently and just seeing it firsthand myself actually at 2am in the morning across the city. 

“Every time I'm going around the city now, even at night time, you can see them breaking the bags, bursting the bags, damaging locks is actually the biggest issue that we're now having.”

A woman searches through a public bin for bottles or cans to add to her collection. Picture by: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie.

The Fianna Fáil argued that given tens of millions of bottles and cans are not returned through the scheme, a portion of the unclaimed cash should be used on cleaning services. 

“I think, realistically, if you look at €60 million unclaimed money, I think they should be paying for some of this damage and the issues we are having in Dublin City Council as a local authority when it comes to waste,” he said. 

Cllr Barron conceded that there are “a lot of positives” from the Deposit Return Scheme; however, that does not mean there are not also downsides. 

“I think realistically in the city there's a lot more rubbish around the bins,” he said. 

“You can see visibility-wise right around the city people are taking stuff out of the bins and just leaving it idle beside the bin. 

“That in itself is the problem - we don't look clean.”

One option Dublin City Council is considering is to change the bins, to make them harder for people to get into. 

Cllr Barron admitted this would “cost a lot of money” but that it might be the only long-term solution. 

“The big belly bins are compacting bins with new locking systems in it that will eliminate them getting into the bin at all,” he said. 

“But from a health and safety point of view, people putting their hands into bins is dangerous too and we need to be cautious about that.”

Main image: A man in the process of bin scavenging. Picture by: Alamy.com.