New bin bags, as part of a pilot scheme in Dublin, should help reduce seagull conflicts with humans.
That's according to Niall Hatch, head of development and communication with Birdwatch Ireland.
It comes as Dublin City Council is to use super-strong rubbish sacks that can't be torn apart by beaks.
Under the scheme, businesses and residents will drop their rubbish bags into protective anti-seagull sacks before putting their waste out for collection.
Workers will then empty the rubbish bag into their trucks and return the re-useable anti-seagull bag to the customer.
Niall told The Pat Kenny Show he hopes this will work.
"Birdwatch Ireland has long been calling, actually, for a better refuse handling system within Dublin and other urban areas.
"It stands to reason that if you put out flimsy plastic bin bags on the street, birds like gulls are going to break into them.
"We see the gulls doing that because they're out during the daytime.
"But you can be certain that animals like foxes, and especially rats, are doing the same thing at night.
"So we certainly hope that this will help to alleviate the problem, and then will hopefully then reduce the conflicts between humans and gulls".
' Quite a valuable service'
He said seagulls actually do play an important role here.
"They do actually perform very important benefits.
"We tend to think of scavengers as a dirty word, like it's something bad - it's actually something we should be grateful for.
"They clean up a lot of waste in our streets and in our countryside, they clean up a lot of roadkill.
"And also, with gulls particularly, they do prey on rats.
"I've many times seen gulls... actually catching rats and mice in urban areas - and along peers around Dublin as well.
"So they do actually play a big role in actually reducing the numbers of those."
Seagulls following a ferry looking for food. Picture by: ton koene / Alamy Stock PhotoHe added that while other scavengers are around, the gulls are the ones people notice more.
"Because they're loud and they're large and they're visible - especially because they're out during the day - they're the scavenger that people most notice.
"But at night there are actually far more rats out, there are foxes as well, there are feral cats and dogs.
"Gulls are the ones that we mainly notice - and actually by reducing the amount of rubbish on the street, because the gulls are eating it, they actually do quite a valuable service.
"I think that's sometimes overlooked".
