Southsiders Recycle Less

Recycling in D4_01

Southsiders don’t re-cycle as much as Northsiders, according to a new survey. The survey, carried out by Greyhound, one of the largest waste distribution companies in the country, measured the weight of waste collected from bins across Dublin. After the percentage of weight was allocated, a statistic was assigned to each area.

The numbers show that overall the Northside has a higher rate of recycling (27%) compared to us in Dublin 4 (23%). More specifically, People living in Dublin 3 – Clontarf, the North Strand, East Wall and Fairview – are the top users of the green bin, followed closely by Dublin 1 (28%) and Dublin 9 (27.8%)

For the brown bin, which is overlooked by most people as a recycling device, Dublin 5 is at the top at (22.7%) Dublin 4 came in last at (19.9%).

“It is extremely interesting to see the differences in the recycling rates right across Dublin. Let’s hope a bit of traditional Dublin rivalry will see postcodes south of the Liffey doing better when we repeat this study in three months,” said Michael Buckley, the Chief Executive for Greyhound Recycling.

The study is somewhat surprising, considering most of Dublin 4 is served by both Tidy Town campaigns and a number of recycling facilities with bring centres in Ringsend and Rathgar. According to Dublin City Council, Ringsend Recycling Centre has a high usage rate amongst the public with 10,500 people using it between January and October of 2013.

“I am surprised at the figures,” said Labour Cllr. Dermot Lacey. “Overall I know that the principle of recycling is embedded more and more in everyone’s consciousness and that in itself is a good thing.”

Pictured: Ringsend Recycling Centre is in demand.

By Liam Cahill