Leitrim County Council will not permit the use of plastic bags for waste collection

Leitrim County Council will not be allowing the reintroduction of plastic bags for those living outside existing waste collecting routes.

In a letter sent to Leitrim County Council in July this year, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Denis Naughten outlined certain circumstances where local authorities could designate 'bag collection areas'.

Reasons included physical features which make it difficult to move a bin to the edge of the property, streets being too narrow for refuse collection vehicles to access as well as “notified exceptional circumstances.”

Minister Naughten said, “It is a matter for each local authority to designate areas as not being suitable for wheelie bin collections (i.e. designate areas which should remain on bag collections.”

Cllr Sinead Guckian said it is clear from the letter that local authorities have the power to choose areas where residents could use plastic bags and she urged the Council to do so in rural locations where waste collection vehicles are not able to access roads or where residents have to drag bins a long distance to collection points.

Director of Service, Joseph Gilhooly said that these circumstances for consideration were mostly aimed at urban areas where there are access issues for waste collection.

“Our experience in Leitrim is that plastic bags are an absolute disaster. The primary purpose of this (criteria outlined by the Minister) was to identify areas of limited access for urban centres,” he said.

“This rule stems from an urban context and we feel it would be a backward step (here in Leitrim) to designate such areas,” he said.

Mr Gilhooly also pointed out there was no legal obligation on waste collection providers to collect anywhere in the county. “They are not obligated to provide this service to every household. The obligation is on the householder to ensure their waste is properly and legally disposed of.”

Cllr Sinead Guckian expressed her disappointment with this interpretation of the criteria.

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