Over 220 Dublin households did not have their rubbish collected yesterday because of their failure to pay domestic waste charges or because their wheelie bins were not registered.
Dublin City Council bin collectors refused to empty bins in two areas where the households were in arrears as part of the authority's "no pay, no collection" policy.
The policy, which was introduced yesterday in Rathmines and Grangegorman, will be extended in coming months to all districts in the council area, according to a spokesman.
In Rathmines, 394 bins were emptied yesterday, while seven bins were rejected for arrears and 36 for non-registration. In Grangegorman, 452 bins were emptied, 86 were rejected for arrears and 85 were rejected for non-registration.
The council's customer-care line received 684 calls yesterday about waste management, according to the spokesman. Many of these were from people who wanted to settle their accounts, he said.
"The vast majority of households and commercial customers pay their charges and it would be grossly unfair on those customers to allow a small minority not to pay their fair share," said Matt Twomey, assistant city manager. "We are now urging those who have not done so to regularise their accounts and avoid disruption of their service."
Mr Twomey said the council operated a "generous" waiver scheme that exempted from payment those on low wages, social welfare allowance or pension.
Householders in arrears or whose bin is not registered had an orange label attached to the handle by council staff. This gives a contact telephone number which the owner can ring to find out how the refuse collection service can be restored.
Some 82 per cent of households have paid their waste charges in full or in part, or qualify for a waiver, the spokesman said. The council empties 132,000 wheelie bins and collects 25,000 bags each week.
Labour's environment spokesman Eamon Gilmore said the council's decision not to empty untagged bins highlighted the urgent need for a national waste-charge waiver scheme.
"Thanks to decisions by city and county managers around the country, waste charges appear to be on an unending upward spiral and continue to cause financial hardship for pensioners and low-income households."
