Bin companies to get free rein on charges

New charging system is likely to mean a hike in all of our waste bills

BIN companies will be able to charge customers what they like under new legislation expected to be introduced in September.

Environment Minister Denis Naughten has admitted the plan to ban flat-rate bin charges and boost recycling means that many of the 1.2 million households affected will end up paying more.

A department spokesman said the Minister hoped that bin companies would ‘put customers on to tariffs that reflect their recycling habits and that this would lead to lower costs’.

However, Mr Naughten admitted that there was no compulsion on the companies to do this.

In February of last year, thenenvironment minister Alan Kelly had predicted that the new charging system would reduce the bills of 87% of customers.

But now it is widely believed that charges will rise for most customers.

It is the latest blow to the Government’s attempt to encourage domestic customers to recycle their waste and reduce the amounts going to landfill.

A pay-by-weight scheme was due to come into effect last July, but was shelved until July 1 of this year. However, this was delayed at the eleventh hour – last Thursday night, Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald announced that this deadline would not be met. Now the department says a new scheme will become law in early autumn.

A department spokesman last night said the process of informing councils and waste operators of the changes, and allowing them time to make administrative changes and notify their customers, would take until September at least.

Companies will be required to abolish flat fees, and are expected to offer their customers pay-by-lift or pay-by-weight options – or a combination of the two.

The idea is to use the billing system to encourage more recycling.

There will be no waivers for the less well off – something the Society of St Vincent de Paul calls ‘very worrying’. A spokesman for the charity said: ‘This is another charge and hardship on many people who are already struggling. There is absolutely no “poverty proofing” in place here. It’s pay or else.’

The Government responded by saying that adults with ‘chronic incontinence issues’ would receive a €75 allowance towards their bin charges. Dubliner Shayne O’Donoghue is disappointed with the new format: ‘I’d have liked to see a system where they use the weight of your recycling bin efforts to transfer to credit. Money off next year’s bin bill or cleared entirely. Many countries pay you 7c and 35c per plastic/glass bottle.’

Those consumers who sign up for a pay-by-weight plan will be encouraged to report waste disposal companies who they suspect of measuring their bin weights incorrectly. The National Standards Authority of Ireland, which regulates the waste companies’ weighing equipment, says there will be severe penalties for companies caught cheating their customers. ‘As part of our enforcement role, NSAI’s legal metrology division pays particular attention to matters brought to our attention by members of the public,’ said a spokesman. ‘If anybody believes there has been a short measurement or other issue relating to our work, they should complete our complaints form, which is available on our website, nsai.ie. If the NSAI’s inspector finds that a waste company is not compliant with the legislation it could face prosecution and could be liable to a fine of €22,000 or up to four years in prison or both.’

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil’s Willie O’Dea warned yesterday that bin charges are going to become the next water charges campaign. Mr O’Dea slammed the Government over its ‘political carelessness in unleashing a new campaign for Solidarity and People Before Profit to get their teeth into, just as the summer marching season arrives’.

‘There appears to be a complete lack of political intelligence at play in this government,’ he said.

‘We spent 50 long days in the dungeons of the water charges committee... getting them off the hook of water charges. No sooner have we done that, than they invent a new way to enrage the voters.’

‘Another hardship for those already struggling’