The town of Avoca in County Wicklow has come up with a novel solution to clamp down on litter: remove public bins.
The experiment by Avoca Tidy Towns has seen seven bins removed from the community since 2018.
Avoca Tidy Towns committee member Myles Smith told Newstalk Breakfast the approach has actually worked.
"It was quite an evolving situation but it started back around 2018," he said
"COVID compounded it so off we went and it's worked, believe it or not."
Mr Smith said the unique approach has modified people's behaviour.
"If you consider the logic - it is counter-intuitive - but you have the litter in your pocket, who's litter is it? Yours," he said.
"If you see a bin you can move your responsibility over somewhere else.
"If the bin is full that's OK, you leave it beside the bin, that's you absolved of your responsibility.
"Take that bin away you keep it in your pocket [and] it's yours to bring home".
'Seagulls and magpies'
Mr Smith said the approach has also solved a problem with numerous birds.
"We had a situation where we had four workers basically picking [up] an awful lot of litter every week and we had the council emptying bins every day," he said.
"Still the bins were full [with] the seagulls and magpies pulling stuff out and it was going everywhere.
"Now the bins aren't full so the magpies are gone away and to be honest people have brought their rubbish home with them which is great".
'Domestic rubbish'
Mr Smith said there was some "head scratching" at the decision initially.
"The problem was like all things that are free [the bins were being] abused a little," he said
"If the bins are emptied very often they're filled with a fair bit of domestic rubbish as well and therefore they're always full because it's free."
Mr Smith added that there is still some rubbish in the village park at the weekend "but we had that before anyway".
