Green bin price hike now ‘inevitable’ as talks falter, TDs and senators warned

Conor Walsh, of the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA), said it was “not doing very well” in negotiations with the Department of the Environment aimed at avoiding the increase.

“The way things stand, we’re not getting anywhere and we’re frustrated,” he told the Oireachtas Environment and Climate Action Committee. “We’re trying to work on our members to not increase the costs [to householders] but it seems inevitable right now.”

The Irish Independent has reported claims by waste companies that they are losing millions of euro since the drinks bottles and cans they used to collect in household green bins began going to Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) reverse vending machines.

The waste firms sell the valuable plastic and aluminium from beverage containers to manufacturers and say revenue from that source keeps the cost of green bin collections down.

Without that revenue or a subsidy to make up for it, they have warned the Government in behind-the-scenes talks that companies may increase household bin collection charges.

“There are extra costs and the extra costs need to be covered either by the DRS, by Repak, the Government or the customers,” he said. “We’re working very hard for it not to be the public. We’ve been working very hard for it to be anyone but the public.”

He added: “We’re not doing very well right now” and said the Department of the Environment showed a “lack of urgency” in dealing with the issue.

The department has asked for proof of the impact of the DRS on green bin contents and waste company costs but the IWMA said much of that information lay with Repak, the industry body that collects fees from companies that create packaging waste to subsidise its collection.

“We emailed Repak again yesterday to ask them to provide that information to the department.”

The issue was raised as part of a wider discussion about waste management amid calls by Dublin City Council and trade unions for bin collections to be brought back under public control.

Collection was privatised in 2012 but Dublin city councillors voted in 2019 to bring it back under council control.

Trade unions have backed that call, saying ‘remunicipalisation’ should happen countrywide.

They want councils to be allowed award a contract to a single waste collector in their administrative area following a competitive tender.

Currently, multiple companies compete for routes and customers – Dublin City Council, Fórsa and Siptu argue this causes chaos on the roads, has increased illegal dumping, damaged pay and conditions and not kept prices low.

Richy Carrothers, of the Fórsa trade union, said the current system operated as an “unregulated cartel” although he was warned by committee chair Brian Leddin that his comments were unsubstantiated and might be considered defamatory.

The IWMA rejected the accusations, arguing customers were well served, prices were competitive and working conditions were good, although it conceded that most companies did not recognise trade unions.