One fifth of customers have deserted Kerry County Council's rural refuse collection service in the first three months of this year after the introduction of new recycling and pay-by-lift measures.
The new measures include the use of clear plastic bags for dry recyclables, along with bins for other waste.
The customers have opted for private refuse collectors offering all-bin collection and an annual fee.
A council spokeswoman said there had been increased use of the council's transfer stations also.
However, illegal dumping and burning had also increased "marginally", the spokeswoman added.
There has been growing concern about illegal dumping since the introduction of the new refuse collection measures where householders are asked to use a variety of methods to segregate their rubbish.
Brian Sweeney of the waste services environment department has said he is aware plastic bags used for dry recyclables were unpopular.
However, it would be next year before bins were distributed because of the workload in distributing them to the council's over 8,000 customers.
It was also important to train people into segregating dry recyclables - contamination was easy to spot in the clear plastic bags, he said.
Kerry County Council last year hired a helicopter to monitor illegal dumping.