Dublin City Council faces a cost of almost € 1 million to clean up after people who dig through bins for plastic bottles and cans, leading to calls for Re-turn to foot the bill.

Bins being torn apart in pursuit of bottles and cans to exchange for cash under the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) are causing more than €350,000 of extra work hours annually for council staff having to clean the streets, according to a council briefing document first reported by The Times.

Since the DRS began in February 2024, the waste management section of Dublin City Council (DCC) has spent an additional €500,000, with more than €350,000 to be spent this year – while more than €115,000 went on replacing locks on ‘Big Belly’ bins that were broken into.

Close-up of a collection of plastic water bottles sitting in a pile in a recycling center

The briefing document estimated that three hours in every 24-hour cleaning cycle were diverted to deal with ‘bin interference’.

North Inner City councillor Nial Ring told Extra.ie yesterday, that the scheme’s operator, Re-turn, was sitting ‘on a cash pile’ of money from binned bottles but wasn’t contributing to the fees incurred by DCC.

‘Re-turn is a not-for-profit organisation but they got €66million in 2024 because the deposit goes to them if no one takes the bottle or can to a returns machine,’ he said. ‘There are 150,000 unclaimed cans and bottles being binned in Dublin alone every day, and because people go through bins to find them, there’s a huge mess left for the council to deal with.’

Nial Ring. Pic: Collins Courts
North Inner City councillor Nial Ring. Pic: Collins Courts

Mr Ring brought a motion to DCC’s climate committee last week calling on the council to engage with Re-turn and the Department of the Environment to seek full costs of additional operational expenses, ‘ensuring that this council does not continue to subsidise the national scheme through increased cleaning costs’.

The motion was passed unanimously.

‘Re-turn is making millions; at least don’t be making the taxpayer of Dublin pay a levy, and extra taxes, because ultimately Dublin City Council have to be paid with local property tax rates – that’s taxpayers’ money,’ Mr Ring said.

DCC stated that it had no comment to make on the matter. A spokesman for Re-turn said it was ‘having ongoing discussions’ with the council as part of a shared goal for cleaner streets and higher recycling rates.