Food Waste (aka Brown Bins) in the city area

baileys3

I recently moved to the Blackpitts area of the Liberties. We are in a part of the city centre that is a bag collection zone i.e. we don't have a wheelie bin service; you pay for bags (either recycling or general waste) and the collection fee is incorporated as part of the price of the bag.

Wheelie bin areas have a brown bin for food waste but from what I can see there is no option for food waste if you live in these bag collection zones. At the moment I am putting all my food waste into the general waste which is not the best environmentally speaking.

I am looking into composting but it's not really the best solution as I dont have a garden so have very limited use for the resulting compost and I have very limited outdoor space to accomodate a composter (Which is one of the main reasons the area is designated as a bag zone I guess). Also, I would still be putting my cooked food etc into the general waste.

I contacted the company who collect my bags and they say it's not a service they provide.

So just wondering has anyone looked into it before and what if any are the possible solutions?

Gavin "shels"

Maybe try contact a few of the main ones, Abbey Waste, etc...

I've seen Brown Bins around here but not sure who they were collected by.

baileys3

Abbey were the ones I contacted and said they don't do it.

I'll try contacting more and post what I find out.

Gavin "shels"

http://www.brownbin.ie/

https://twitter.com/brownbinIE

Might be of use.

baileys3

Gavin shels wrote: »

http://www.brownbin.ie/

https://twitter.com/brownbinIE

Might be of use.

Yeah have been researching it a bit the last week or so and came across those sites. They are really just info sites and tell you to contact your waste provider. Their twitter/fb doesn't look very active.
Also tried to find info on waste collectors sites and on boards but can't find any concrete information. Thought it was worth posting on here to see if anyone had found a solution, but I'll keep my own search going.

tampopo

For compostable waste only, not cooked meats for example, you could bring them to the South Circular Road Community Garden in Dolphins Barn. The former carpark of the Bailey Gibson site.

baileys3

Good idea tampopo. I'll look into it a bit more.
Couldnt find a recent online contact for them but the quick search turned up another local community garden/allotment in Weaver square. https://www.facebook.com/tenterscommunitygarden/. So that might also be worth looking into.

Gavin "shels"

There's another one on Reuben St in Rialto, Flanagan's Field Community Garden.

baileys3

Some people may be interested in a reply I got from the City Council in relation to this topic. I have contacted Greyhound so far and will update on their response. In summary, all areas including the bag collection zone must be provided with a food waste option by their provider.


“Part of the duties of the Waste Enforcement Unit of Dublin City Council is to regulate waste collectors to ensure that they are in compliance with the European Union (Household Food Waste And Bio-Waste) Regulations 2015. The Waste Enforcement Unit wrote to all the waste collectors in the designated bag collection areas in the middle of last year advising them of their obligation to provide all customer with a segregated food waste collection service if requested. This letter explicitly stated the inclusion of those like yourself in the bag collection areas. A Waste Enforcement Office followed up on these advisory letters by visiting each of the waste collectors who providing bag collection services to remind them of their obligations and advising them that enforcement action will be taken against non-compliance companies from the start of 2018.



As part of the Waste Enforcement work plan for 2018 we have set time aside throughout the year with an emphases in quarter 1 for Waste Enforcement Officers to re-visit all of those waste collectors and verify that the segregated food waste collection service is available to all customers. In mid 2017 your waste collector did commit to making this service available and we will be auditing them shortly to verify that they are now compliant with the regulations.



If you have not contacted your waste collector recently in relation to the provision of a segregated food waste collection, may I suggest that you do so again. If the service is not been made available to you the Waste Enforcement Unit would be in a position to follow-up on your behalf. “