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WASTE COLLECTION COMPANIES are starting to charge customers for black bins over a certain weight – without the government’s agreement – after the pay-by-weight bin charges system was delayed last year.
Greyhound started charging extra for black bin bags that exceed 42 kilograms (92 pounds) this month. The company says the new charge is part of its fair usage policy to encourage recycling.
Meanwhile, Panda customers have been told that a new weight limit of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) per black bin lift will come into effect from July for health and safety reasons. Panda has 175,000 customers, while Greyhound has 120,000.
The pay-by-weight scheme, which was due to come into place from 1 January, was delayed in the eleventh hour last December amid controversy around bin companies abusing the system.
The debacle resulted in Simon Coveney (who was responsible for the waste collection industry at the time) putting a freeze on bin charges for a period of 12 months.
Announcing the delay of the pay-by-weight scheme in December, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten said the reason was because discussions between government officials and the waste industry were ongoing.
However, a spokesperson for the Department told TheJournal.ie that these new charges where bin companies charge customers whose black bins go above a certain weight have not been agreed:
The situation describing black bin bags is not part of any newly agreed terms, as the review has yet to conclude.
Waste collection industry representatives indicated last year that they would not increase regular charges for the 12 months to 1 July 2017 for the same level of service while the introduction of a system to encourage householders to prevent and segregate waste is reviewed.
Health and Safety
A letter sent to Panda customers in recent weeks explains that “bin men frequently struggle with heavy bins” and that the bin can collapse on top of them if they get the balance wrong.
For a larger image of the letter, click here.
One Panda customer told TheJournal.ie that he understands that heavy bins could be a risk but that Panda isn’t stopping their workers lifting these bins, they are now just charging for it.
In the letter he received, Panda advised him to “present your bin for collection a bit more often so you don’t exceed the 40kg maximum”.
However, each bin lift costs €9.05.
The customer added that as his black bin currently averages 89.90 kgs, his bin lift would cost just under €23 including the lift charge of €9.05 and 27.7c per kilo past the 40 kg allowance.
It’s just an excuse to dramatically increase their revenue off the backs of customers who have no other service providers in the area and are stuck with Panda.
TheJournal.ie contacted Panda but did not receive a response.
Environment
Meanwhile, Greyhound has brought in a 30 cent charge per kilo over the 42kg limit. It says 42kg is well over the average weight and the households being charged rarely use their brown bin.
In a statement to TheJournal.ie, Greyhound said the surcharge will affect less than 2% of its customers.
“Under Greyhound’s Fair Usage policy, a small number of customers, less than 2% of our customer base are being charged extra for black bins that exceed 42 kilograms – well above the average weight of a black bin. The surcharge amounts to 30 cents per kilo over the limit.”
It added that the customers affected are the ones who don’t use their brown bins and that the initiative is to encourage recycling habits and to help the environment.
The households that have incurred this extra charge are customers who rarely, if ever, leave out a brown bin, although they have been provided with this facility. Their brown bin waste is being disposed of in their black bin and, in some instances, in their green.
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Illegal dumping will be on the rise now for sure . Privatisation and greed will unfortunately see our beauty spots tarnished with refuse.
@Willy Malone: Yes. The waste companies have been held back in their preferred charging model. In order to maximise private sector efficiency they would like to see changes at €1000 a year
@Willy Malone: I agree. I rarely put my black bin out because I do recycle. I don’t use compost bin because I have a compost bin in garden for all raw fruit and veg… no rats. So now I am getting penalised for dealing with my rubbish correctly? Give me a break! If I as a grandmother can wheel my black bin to the kerb easily then I should not have to pay extra.
@Gillian Weir Scully: Check with your bin company, the one we are with here in Wexford still gave us the pay by weight option and as like yourself we recycle and compost our costs have come down by approx 100 euro a year
The bin men don’t lift the bins. They wheel them to the truck and the machinery does all the lifting.
@Dallan O’Reilly: yeah. I’d love to see a report of exactly just how many bins have tipped over onto our hero binmen that undertake the extraordinarily risky job of wheeling bins to the truck.
@Dallan O’Reilly: It’s such an easy and enjoyable job, running behind a lorry in the rain with the stink of your rubbish blowing into your face.
@Seth Cheffetz: I have seen bin man throwing and kicking bin bags down the road. Not surprising if they get hurt from that as a result. Plus it explains why the whole area is disgusting when they collect the black bins
Typical greyhound, they’ve always treated their customers terribly! “Charges are to encourage recycling” pull the other one.
citybin is yer only man!
@Tony Maguire: i have to agree. we switched to CityBin two years ago because we were having ongoing problems with Greyhound. We live on a cul-de-sac off a busy road and more weeks than not they would forget to collect our bins. When they did collect them the empty bins were abandoned anywhere. CityBin do the job they are paid to. Since switching to CityBin they haven’t forgotten our bins once. The bins are collected from outside the door and returned neatly to the same place on each lift.
@Tony Maguire: Yup. How can the charges be to “encourage “recycling” when the only stuff that is allowed in the green bin weighs next to nothing? We too switched to Citybin because Greyhound were dreadful and careless.
If they were that worried about their workers health and safety surely then they would stop their workers from lifting any bins that they felt were over 40kg.its only an excuse to charge more.
@Tony Hanratty:
The government ignore the Dail rules (AIB shares vote) so why should Greyhound obey the government rules?
What’s good for the goose…….
Not surprising in Rip-off Ireland. Being fleeced, gouged is commonplace. Why for a country with such charitable compassion, is the rip-off tendency so prevalent? Personal theory – after historically having had land, homes, possessions and money forcibly taken, there remains as a result an ingrained ‘desire’ to make as much money by whatever means as quickly as possible. Look at the property ownership culture in Ireland where renting is far behind the ingrained desire to own property, with many of those renting doing so only because they can’t afford to buy or get mortgages from banks. Rip-off Ireland? It hasn’t gone away you know.
Such is privatisation. Service diminishes. Profit is maxed, people treated as cash cows.
Another service abandoned by Govenment Ministers to private sector aka Mafia.All the fawning Irish press is worried about is Tweedle dee (ex Minister for hospital trollies out in the car park) gets to become leader of the pack. And some idiots in this country actually believe our new leader could deal with Teresa May?
Brown bins are not lifted enough in summer and can cause rats and smell so I don’t use them
@Gill Hyland: that is nonsense. They can be a bit smelly in the Summer months but rats can’t get into them if you keep the lids closed. If you are not using your brown bin then you are not recycling your compostable waste and are not a good citizen.
@Sean: I don’t use a brown bin either, because life is short, and I’m not going to spend it flagilating myself for daring to use up some space on the planet for 75 years.
“You’re not a good citizen”. The frigging bin companies have us jumping at the bit to appraise each other. How very Orwellian.
@Sean: they do attract flies and other such creatures and slugs! Somehow they get inside. I’ve opened mine during the summer to a swarm of little flies heading for my face. No thank you. I only use brown bin in the winter now.
@Missyb211: you can get green caddy bags that can go into it. They can help.
@Keith Gregg: I’m supplied with brown paper ones. How would a green caddy bag help? If i have to untie a plastic bag every time i open the lid…
@Sean: have never used brown bin, and DON’T put any food waste into black bin.
We have a garden, so all vegetable waste goes there, and dog eats rest!
Their reasoning is flawed.
@Missyb211: isn’t nature wonderful with birth happening in your bin. I get them from time to time and let nature take its course. Or just use boiling water which does add to the weight of the bin of course
@lavbeer: that’s a way of looking at it, the cycle of life and all that but i don’t want them in my face every time i open it or heading for the nearest entry to the house.
Rats broke into mine quite easily actually. They chewed through the small catch under the handle. From there is was easy. I’ve fixed it twice since and they’ve now eaten a hole in a corner. Once a rat knows what’s in it there’s no stopping them. Rats chew through bricks if they want to.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: there must be rats in your area because people are not recycling property! I have not seen a rat in 50 years! Irish people just have to get with the recycling of their waste. There seems to be a general “it’s somone else’s problem” I remember my Father recycling as far back as the seventies because that was the way he thought about things. Consequently our whole extended family recycle everything.
My black bin is in my back garden so to put it out for collection I have to lift it over a 9 inch step, wheel it through the house and lower it over two more steps to my driveway. I have no Safe Lifting training so if I can do that then surely a Panda worker can wheel it 2 yards on a level toad to the back of the truck.
I wonder if the customer with the 90kg bin (over 14 stone) could tell us what the hell is putting in the bin?
@lavbeer: possibly babies in the house? Plus proper recycling. Then the black bin would only go out every couple of weeks mostly filled with nappies and other non recycled stuff.
@sue: been there with the nappies and they weight but 14 stone. Checked my bin and I am in the 30 to 40 range.
@lavbeer: well I’m happy to tell you why my bins are so heavy. My bin is filled with the adult incontinence wear that my son wears 24/7. Adult nappies weigh a lot !!! There is no way to recycle them and no way to cut my costs. I have had to change bin companies several times as my costs kept soaring. I apparently exceeded the limits set down by local council so AES shot up my charges. Where I am now is good. There is no bin waiver for people us even though we are stuck on benefits. I don’t qualify. So I’m really terrified about what happens when pay by weigh does come in. Waste and water charges are always my worry as they have the potiential to break me completely.
@lavbeer: Maybe it’s none of your business.
That One panda customer mentioned is paying about €2400.00 per ton of waste.
Something aint right.
Such a shameful outcome of the privatisation of public service.
Why do we pay taxes again?
Yup, once again, like car insurance, health insurance, tv/cable,….the list goes on, the Irish consumer gets royally screwed over….the joys of living in Ireland
It’s simple, if they’ve started charging by weight, it’s breach of contract and you can leave said contract, and go to a different company!
We’re going to have to trash this one out with the government but it’ll be a waste of time.
They just talk rubbish and skip on to something else. We’ve bin here before,said the panda to the greyhound!
So instead of ensuring that a smelly bag of rubbish collapse all their lifters, they are willing to let that happen IF they get an extra fiver for it. Poor lifters. What do they have to say about this?
@Missyb211: another thing. It’s not just brown bin contents that add weigh to the bags, what about nappies. They have some weight in them.
That’s odd I’m paying pay by weight on the south side wasn’t the chargers supposed to be suspended
@Grasshopper: change company, they broke contract, so you are no bound to them
@Russell Dalton: I have.. I was with Grayhound but changed to panda and still I’ve to pay bin charges. I came from the north side to the south and I was told by the bin company the charges where always here.. I’m confused
This is ridiculous. These companies are very profitable. Charging by weight will drive some people with large or ill meme era of their families’ charges up to a €1000 per year
I think there’s an opportunity for a Market disruptor to break the cartel!
It’s the biggest scam out there, the majority of the rubbish gets shipped abroad ( sold on ) and as for recycling which is another joke it’s like the water meter situation
As someone who works in this sector, i will offer a first hand experience of it.
When i pull up to collect a bin, sometimes the truck cannot always get alongside it, Therefore we have to wheel the bin to the truck, and yes the machinery does physically lift the bin off the ground.
The weight of some of these bins are so excessive that even with 2 of us it is a physical struggle.
If i were to hurt myself moving a householders bin to the truck and am out of work, i do not get paid by the company while out sick as a result.
I will be financially penalised for trying to do my job.
Only this week a bin was so heavy, neither me nor my colleague could move a bin to get it to the truck, we had to leave it there.
Just remember one thing please guys, bin men have families as well, if we injure ourselves that has financial implications for people with young families like myself.
I see both sides of the argument here.
The charges being imposed on customers and also the physical well being of the workers.
Even though i’m in the industry i still have to pay the same charges as all of you.
@Cork Truck Driver: So if it’s sometimes a struggle for 2 workers to move the bin to the truck how did the householder get it to the collection point in the first place ?
Illegal dumping every where will start wait till you see the smell and it will look well ????what do ye think
City bin co are now charging for recycling compost bins (your brown bin) if it’s over a certain weight.
Im living in Dunshaughlin and am with thorntons where i pay for black bin and any extra weight is CHARGED for, also my brown bin is also €4 per so together its €13.50 per fortnight plus a charge for any extra weight
Us country folk have been paying by weight for years, nobody gave a shite.
@Steve Hardy: Most of you country folk have also been burning your recycle rubbish for years and nobody gives a f**k. Lots of us in Dublin are already changed using this system, have been for a few years now. It encourages illegal dumping and increased profits and a reduction in waste collection for the bin company, nothing else matters to them …..
Anyone going to check the calibration? Like Ryanair was exposed the other week about 90% of their weigh machines were not calibrated properly!! Can’t exactly stick your grey bin on the weighing scales…!
@Lydia McLoughlin: The calibration in my depot is checked weekly. Whether that makes any difference to a person’s opinion is another matter.
The weigh bridge is also inspected to ensure compliance.
Each truck can tell the weight of a bin there and then also if a customer requests the weight.
And just like the health insurance and motor insurance costs govt will do nothing. Do like the French, pile ur rubbish outside the govt buildings.
In Portugal many housing estates have an area where there are huge underground bins, you lift airtight lids and dump your rubbish.
Truck removes the full huge bags and put a new one back. They also have a grab which will take ANYTHING too large, garden waste, they take everything! No plastic bags, no individual bins, no weighing anything, it encourages people to bin their rubbish snd the are council collections, no greedy private companies!
We have a lovely fella looking after bin collection up here in my neck of the woods… http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/donegal-refuse-collector-a-serial-environmental-offender-1.3081208
Shower of greedy c@-ts, someone needs to put their foot on their necks. Asap
Of course you can’t put yourself at risk, but the only way to prove that the bin is too heavy is too lift it and charge the customer.
This is not going to save you from a work place incident.
What a load of Rubbish!!
@Willie Murphy: it’s an aweful waste of time, these negotiations should have bin agreed months ago. Typical of government kicking the bin down the road
Yes people wont pay when they can dump it somewhere without been seen. I dont use my black bin cos everything is segregated and i find that i dont have anything 4 the black bin. Anything that does’nt go into green or brown ends up in the bottle bank ie glass
Rubbish innit.. A law to themselves.
It’s confusing when you’ve to pay the pay by weight charges when it’s been put on hold so when I moved to the south side of the Liffey the charges haven’t been suspended. Go figure
And so it begins…. now see will the government make the money back on Fly tipping fines!
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