‘Pizza box bins’ would be big assistance to businesses

Calls have been made to install ‘pizza box bins’ in Rathfarnham to slice littering in half in the village centre.

Bins solely for pizza boxes, as seen in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, have been requested to be placed in Rathfarnham Village centre to reduce instances of literring, with pizza boxes noted to be tough to fit into the current waste bins at the public’s disposal.

Councillor Yvonne Collins noted that business owners in the area that sell pizza do look after boxes that may be littered in the village centre and tend to collect them for disposal on their own premises.

However, Cllr Collins noted that the provision of new pizza box bins would be “a huge assistance” to the business owners and the public in helping to keep the village clean.

She said: “It’s attracting an awful lot of littering and the littering is there pretty much on a daily basis – it’s very difficult and it’s a major eyesore.

“A lot of the problems seem to be arising out of some of the pizza boxes – there just seems to be difficulty in actually getting them into the solar bins.”

South Dublin County Council had installed and upgraded 31 solar-powered compacting bins across the area as part of a “significant investment”, according to Senior Executive Parks and Landscape Officer Brendan Redmond.

The solar-powered bins are said to have improved litter capture, reduced overflow, and enabled more efficient collection through fill-level monitoring in Rathfarnham.

Mayor of SDCC, Councillor Pamela Kearns noted that there is also a pizza box related issue with bins in Templeogue.

However, the Mayor does not feel that more bins is the answer as she does not feel there is enough space for them, and the installation of pizza bins may only bring on the installation of dog bins and more.

Mayor Kearns said: “I think it’d be an awful lot more on the streets and I don’t think that the village have the space for them.”

However, Redmond acknowledged that there is an issue with the disposal of pizza boxes and stated that the Public Realm Section of the council will examine the seating area on the Main Street of the village to determine whether a dedicated pizza box bin can be installed beside the existing bin.

The examination will look to see if such an installation can be carried out without negatively impacting universal access, given the constrained width of the footpath in this location.

Councillor Lynn McCrave explained that it is not only pizza boxes that are causing an issue with litter but other takeaway materials.

Cllr McCrave said: “It’s all types of takeaway material that has been left there and it is blowing down the street and everywhere.

“It is unfortunate that the seating area is outside two takeaways.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.