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Environment, Culture & Community

Environmental Awareness

Annual May Fair. St Brigid’s Parish. Merville Road.

Come to our traditional May Fair on the 19th May from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  (Plenty of time to get home for the rugby!) Stalls to suit all the family, gardening, cakes , toys, books etc.  Lovely cream teas and BBQ for lunch, candyfloss and face painting for the little ones too!  Caroline Jolley will be showing off her community garden and her flock of hens which will feature in ‘hen racing’ during the day. We have a wonderful raffle with super prizes, one of which is to get a hen coop (with hens !) for a month. Or if you prefer, you could win €500.00 towards a summer holiday. Come along and go home with some bargains.

Halloween Bonfires - The burning of waste is illegal , you could be fined up to €3,000 

If you wish to report any incident of burning phone 01 204 7954 or email wasteenforcement@dlrcoco.ie 

Do not supply your household waste for burning in a bonfire or hand over waste material to any unauthorised waste collector – YOU WILL BE LIABLE FOR A FINE OF UP TO €3000.

Anyone caught dumping waste in an open area can also be fined €150 under the Litter Pollution Act. YOU CAN REPORT INSTANCES OF DUMPING TO 1800 403 503


Home Composting Demonstration Site

Families and businesses throughout Dublin are keen to save money.  With the help of South Dublin County Council, Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and the Stop Food Waste initiative of the EPA, a home composting demonstration site was built by the programme’s trained  Master Composters at Airfield in Dundrum. 

Almost a 1/3 of all food purchased by households end up in the bin.  This includes scrapings from plates, food past their use-by dates and food preparation residues.  Food waste prevention and home composting are two ways homes and businesses can reduce costs and at the same time reap the benefits by making their own compost.  To help you achieve these savings over 25 Master Composter volunteers are now trained to provide talks, workshops, information stands and simply offer advice on food waste prevention and home composting throughout the South County Dublin and Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown communities. 

The home composting demonstration site has been moved to Shanganagh Community Garden while building works are being carried out at Airfield. The site includes examples of composting bins, turning units, leaf mould, wormeries and a food digester, all ideal ways to convert your food scraps into a nutrient rich compost for  gardens. 

The Stop Food Waste initiative is an intiative of the Environmental Protection Agency under the National Food Waste Prevention Programme.

This compost demonstration site has been supported by both South Dublin County Council, Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council and the Stop Food Waste Intiative of the EPA.

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What Food do we Waste?

Summer is a time of BBQs and salads, picnics and ice creams. Getting the most from your food, and making sure that the tasty food you have stored and prepared isn’t wasted, will make the Summer all the tastier! So what are the key things to remember?

We waste food all the time but LETTUCE is one of the biggest offenders. Almost 50% of all lettuce bought is thrown out. This happens for a bunch of reasons: it gets left in its bag down the back of the fridge, too much is bought and then gets left down the back of the fridge, we forget that we have some down the back of the fridge - the fridge has a lot to answer for! Being aware of this is a good start so you can manage your lettuce more carefully but for more tips and some great recipes for salad dressings go to www.stopfoodwaste.ie

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Grasscycling - What to do with all your Grass Clippings?

GrassCycling is the natural recycling of grass by leaving grass clippings on the lawn when mowing. Once on the ground the grass clippings, which contain 80-85% water, decompose quickly returning valuable nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil. There is more to GrassCycling than just leaving the clippings on the lawn and can involve thatching, aerating, cutting, watering and fertilising. Leaving cuttings on your lawn all season long provides the same level of nutrients as one application of fertiliser a year.

What are the Benefits of Grasscycling?

Save money: GrassCycling replaces up to a third of your fertiliser needs. It also saves space in your bins, reducing disposal costs.

Save Time: Even though you might mow more often, you spend less time raking, sweeping, bagging, and hauling cuttings, saving you time to enjoy the Summer.

Enjoy a healthier lawn: The valuable nutrients released through GrassCycling make lawns greener, encourage healthier grass, and enhance soil microbial activity making it softer and more drought resistant (as if we have this problem in Ireland!).

Help the Environment: This simple change in lawn management can significantly reduce the amount of materials going to landfill, conserving energy and reducing greenhouse gases..

Grasscycling is easy and it works. For more information downoad the Grasscycling Factsheet

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Anti Litter and Anti Graffiti Awareness Grant

Is your organisation working to improve your local environment? If so, you may be eligible for an assistance grant. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council invite submissions from Community Groups, Schools, Tidy Town Committees or other Organisations who are interested in receiving part-funding for environmental initiatives.

Anti Litter Grant Application Form 2012

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Sustainable Communities Fund

Is your organisation working to improve your local environment? If so, you may be eligible for an assistance grant. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are inviting submissions from community groups, schools, tidy towns committees, or other organisations who are interested in receiving part funding for environmental initiatives.

Sustainable Communities Fund 2012 Application Form

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Tidy Schools in the Community Competition

Is your school out and about actively cleaning up your local area and / or helping your local residents association or tidy towns groups to keep your community tidy? If so be sure to enter the Tidy Schools in the Community Competition. To enter you must demonstrate how your school spreads the tidy schools message out into the community!

The 2012 Tidy Schools in the Community Competition is now closed. 

Judging is taking place for the 2012 Tidy Schools in the Community Competition and the winning school will be announced at a ceremony to be held in May.

The overall winner of the 2011 Tidy Schools in the Community Competition was St. Patrick’s National School, Glencullen. 

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Tidy Districts Competition

The Tidy Districts Competition gives the County Council the opportunity to recognise the huge effort put in by local communities in enhancing the environment. This competition encourages participants from community, resident and tenant associations and schools to become more aware of and responsible for the environment in their local area. The competition also encourages the development of more sustainable communities and acknowledges communities striving to improve their local areas year on year. So get your school to enter next year's competition and show the County how you manage and spread the anti-litter message into your community.

Tidy Districts Competition 2012 Application form

Comórtas na gCeantar Slachtmhar 2012 Foirm Iontrála

The overall winner of the 2011 Tidy Districts Competition was Meadowbrook Residents' Association, Dundrum.

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Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund

Could you raise awareness of the environment in your local community? If so, you may qualify for financial assistance from the Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund. The Fund promotes sustainable development by assisting small scale, non-profit environmental projects at local level. Projects should focus on environmental awareness and action which complement national environmental policies such as those on Waste, Biodiversity and Climate Change. A wide variety of projects and schemes have been supported under the Fund in previous years ranging from community gardens, allotments and compost schemes to rainwater harvesting systems, educational initiatives and environmental workshops. A list of previous winning projects can be viewed online at www.environ.ie

The 2011 Local Agenda 21 Environment Partnership Fund is now closed.  

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Green Schools

Green Schools is an international environmental education programme, designed to promote and acknowledge whole school action for the environment. Schools undertake long term projects on environmental issues such as waste and litter management, energy, water and transport. On a practical front the green schools programme reduces waste and saves money on waste charges - it also helps conserve energy and water therefore saving money on utility bills. There approximately100 schools in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council registered for the green schools programme. Many of these schools have achieved Green Schools status and proudly fly the green flag. Schools can spend between 1 and 3 years working on each theme. Once they have completed the litter and waste theme they are assessed and if successful they are awarded with a green flag. Schools then continue with the programme and are assessed every 2 years. The Council provide support to schools at all stages of the programme.

Green Schools Website 

Booterstown Marsh & Beach Biodiversity Education Pack

Fitzsimons Wood Biodiversity Education Pack

Killiney Hill Biodiversity Education Pack

Shanganagh Park Biodiversity Education Pack

Dalkey Tern Project

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Home Composting

For those of you with a garden, home composting is a great way to reduce your bin charges, reduce waste filling up our landfill sites and benefit your garden by producing valuable compost to help your plants grow and reduce the need to use artificial fertilisers.

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Stop Food Waste

What’s better than composting your food waste? Avoiding food waste in the first place! Why not check out the Stop Food Waste website for handy hints to avoid food waste and great recipes for your leftovers?   Download the Stop Food Waste booklet - Composting - A Household Guide

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Free Trade

A 'Free Trade Service' for unwanted items to be passed on to new owners for reuse is available at www.freetradeireland.ie


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Community Clean-ups and National Spring Clean

Having a Community Clean-up? Check our Clean-up Checklist!

The annual National Spring Clean takes place in the month of April - www.nationalspringclean.org

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Pure Campaign (Protecting Uplands and Rural Environments)

The PURE project is an environmental partnership initiative which unites all statutory and non-statutory interests in the Wicklow/Dublin Uplands in a single endeavour to tackle the damage to the environment from littering and fly-tipping.

Pure Website 

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National Tidy Towns

The National Tidy Towns competition attracts over 1000 communities (rural, urban, big and small) to try to win the coveted National prize. Many of our young people have assisted local Tidy Town groups by getting involved in clean-ups and conservation and planting projects. The Tidy Towns website can be used to find your local Tidy Towns group and find out more about their work.

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IBAL (Irish Business Against Litter)

Ibal was set up in 1996 by an alliance of companies who wanted to promote a cleaner Ireland. Ibal produce a league table which rates cities by their cleanliness, Dún Laoghaire was awarded the top grade (Clean to European Norms) and came 5th in the cleanliness league overall.

IBAL Website 

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Gum Litter Taskforce

The gum litter campaign aims to promote a behaviour change among gum droppers through local campaigns to create a cleaner, more attractive local area that residents, visitors and businesses can enjoy.

Gum Litter Taskforce Website 

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Earth Hour

Every year during March, hundreds of millions of people switch off their lights (and other non-essential electrical equipment) for 1 hour in support of Earth Hour. Major iconic buildings join in by switching off all lights including the Sydney Opera House, The Empire State Building, The Golden Gate Bridge and many more. Many people also organise activities for their friends and families in support of Earth Hour. Find out more and show your support for Earth hour at their website.

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Cycle to Work

The Council are supporting the government’s cycle to work scheme, which enables staff to purchase bicycles for use in getting to and from work. So far over 50 members of staff and a Councillor have availed of this scheme and are now busily cycling to work.

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Radon Awareness Information

Download Radon Awareness Information  

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WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO DO?

Postal Address: Environment, Culture & Community Dept, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, County Hall, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire.

Public Counter: Level 3, County Hall, Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire.

Telephone : 00 353 1 205 4700

Fax: 00 353 1 230 0125

Public Counter Opening Hours: 9:30a.m - 1.00 p.m and 2.15p.m. - 4.30 p.m. (4pm on Friday)