The imminent demise of Kerbside, a firm set up by Dublin's four local authorities and subsidised by business recycling group Repak to the tune of "£15,000 (€19,046) a week plus VAT" is a sad outcome, according to the Repak chief executive.

But Mr Andrew Hetherington stresses this has nothing to do with the local authorities or Repak. Instead, it was caused partially by taking on additional business in the form of "commercial" contracts which he claims were "obviously not properly costed". Before that, Repak contracts amounted to about half its business while the local authorities accounted for the remainder.

Repak was never directly involved in its management but the relationship was a means for industry to partially meet its recycling obligations, he said. Even if it is about to be replaced by a consortium operating a more extensive kerbside collection service with the introduction of "green wheelie bins" to contain recyclables, Kerbside's predicament makes grim reading.

Some 37 per cent of material ended up in landfill. It was making about £80,000 a year out of a £1.6 million annual running cost. The company cited a fall-off in the market for some recyclables, notable paper and plastics, and high costs. The past two months has seen a sharp increase in complaints about the service; notably about a lack of regular pick-up of recyclables.

Acting assistant city manager, Mr Matt Twomey accepted that the service has been poor. Commercial contracts were one of a number of problems with Kerbside, he said. With all recycling, a significant percentage had to be landfilled. Efficiency at the initial segregation stage was crucial to keeping non-recyclable material to a minimum.

With that in mind, the new household recycling scheme will include a public awareness campaign, he said. High costs aside, Mr Twomey said the public felt recycling was the right approach and it had a vital role in reducing dependence on landfill.