Local outcry prevails as Stoneybatter bin bag ban deferred until October

Bin bags were set to be banned from Stoneybatter streets as part of Dublin City Council's new waste management strategy, but public outcry has led to this plan being deferred to allow further consultation

News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 15:47, 06 Jul 2026 View 2 Images Marie Sherlock TD has called for further consultation with residents on planned bin bag ban

Controversial plans to ban bin bags from Stoneybatter streets have been deferred by Dublin City Council.

Following significant outcry from residents and representatives, Phase 3 of Bag Free Streets , affecting Stoneybatter, Broadstone, and Phibsborough will be deferred until October 17. During this time DCC will facilitate consultation with residents’ associations, as well as drop-in information sessions and online consultations.

A planned rally on the issue led by Labour TD Marie Sherlock outside City Hall this evening will still go ahead at 5:30pm ahead of the monthly council meeting. Ms Sherlock announced on social media that their campaign achieved a “breakthrough” with the council agreeing to defer changes “to allow for a period of consultation”.

She commended residents for utilising local power and applying pressure on DCC, but said now “we need to make sure this consultation actually means something”. “That’s why there’s all the more reason to be at the rally this evening,” she said.

View 2 Images Marie Sherlock TD speaks to a packed Scout Hall in Stoneybatter on bin bag ban issue

Ms Sherlock stressed the importance of “making sure our voices are heard” and that meaningful consultation on the future of waste management in Dublin does take place. Plans to remove the waste bag collection service from the area have been widely criticised, as the alternative of large wheelie bins or a stacked caddie system may not be suitable for elderly, disabled, or waste conscious residents.

Ms Sherlock previously told Dublin Live that a lack of civic engagement on the part of the council left residents feeling blindsided by the incoming plan. She said there is a “real palpable sense of frustration on the ground that Dublin City Council didn't communicate with them” and without proper consultation it was “just kind of foisted this upon them”.

She questioned why the waste companies are being prioritised over the desire of people in the area, and called for alternatives to this change to be considered. Stating that those who pay careful attention to their waste management have been particularly frustrated by the incoming change, Ms Sherlock said there’s a fear residents will end up actually having to pay more for being good recyclers.

“People who only put a bag out every three to four weeks because they recycle well are now going to be forced into flat-rate contracts where they have to pay way more,” she said.

Rather than succumbing to a “one size fits all” system where people must accept wheelie bins or plastic caddies, Ms Sherlock urged the council to think outside the box for alternatives. "This is about having more ambition for our city and for our streets and looking at the alternatives that other European cities have put out there," she said.

From underground bins to waste compactors, Ms Sherlock stressed “Dublin City Council could do an awful lot more in terms of actually stepping up”. While the privatization of bin collection services in Dublin has a complex history, she feels local authorities have “lost a bit of confidence in their powers and abilities” but that delegating everything to private companies is not the answer.

“You’ve got an under investment in composting and recycling. We've only got two civic amenity centres in the whole of the constituency, North Strand and Grangegorman, I think we need to be looking at how we develop more of those, maybe on a smaller scale,” she said.

“I believe waste management is not just a private utility. It’s something that really impacts us all.”

At the Central Area Committee meeting in May, Executive Manager Derek Kelly defended the ban as a major component of the council’s plan to clean up the city and said the previous phases of their strategy has already removed approximately 20 tonnes of waste from the streets per month. He said the four waste providers in the area - Panda, Greyhound Recycle, KeyGreen, and Thorntons Recycling - have been working with the council to offer a variety of solutions to customers, which includes smaller, stacked plastic caddies to act as alternative to traditional wheelie bins.

Mr Kelly said that waste operators are providing an alternative for those without sufficient space through a stacked caddy system. He said they are around the size of one domestic waste bag and store around 45 litres worth of waste.

A caddie is around “the size of a shopping basket” according to Mr Kelly, with three stacked on top of another and approximately 1.2 metres high and around 400mm². Being around “the weight of a laptop,” he described them as a “light unit” that wouldn’t cause significant extra burden compared to a plastic bag.

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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