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FLAT FEE BIN charges are to be scrapped, with the government shaking up the waste charging regime.
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.
Some consumers complained they were being hit with 200% increases in their bills.
The debacle resulted in Minister 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.
In December, Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Denis Naughten announced there would be a delay in the pay-by-weight scheme as discussions between government officials and the waste industry were ongoing.
Today, Naughten has announced plans for his new scheme which will see the “one-size-fits-all” mandatory, nationwide per-kilogramme charging system scrapped.
He told the Dáil the old scheme was unfair and penalised those that recycled.
Phased out
The ‘all-in flat rate’ charging for household waste will start to be phased out as customers renew or enter new service contracts. So if your contract is up in August, the new scheme will kick in for you at that time.
Instead, the minister said the customer will be able to control their own bin charges through a number of options.
Under the new arrangement, waste collectors will be given the flexibility to continue to offer, or to introduce, a range of incentivised pricing options to their customers.
These options include the option of standing charges, per-lift, per-kilogramme, weight-bands, as well as weight allowance charges.
Roll-out of brown bins
Naughten said the new charging scheme will encourage recycling.
All waste collectors will be required to start rolling-out food and organic “brown” bins to all localities nationwide with a population greater than 500 people.
The minister said this will help more households reduce the waste they usually throw into their standard black bins. Further consideration will be given to extending ‘brown’ bin coverage in phases to smaller localities, he said.
“Allowing for a range of charging options, which most consumers are already familiar with, will encourage householders to reduce and separate their waste while choosing the service-price offering that best suits their circumstances and allows them manage their costs.
“Therefore, I have decided not to impose a compulsory ‘one size fits all’ per-kilogramme charging system on waste collectors,” he said.
In the previous row over bin charges, concerns were raised by those with long-term illness and families about the amount of waste they produce and what they would end up paying.
Medical incontinence
Under the new scheme, annual support of €75 will be introduced for persons with lifelong/long-term medical incontinence.
The minister said this support will help people meet the average annual cost of disposal of incontinence products. Further details will be finalised later this year, said Naughten.
The minister said the amount of waste sent to landfill in Ireland has increased in the last two years.
“It is important to act now to encourage waste reduction to avert a return to an over-dependence on landfill,” said Naughten, adding that Ireland has just four landfill sites remaining. Previously it had 24 landfill sites.
Naughten said the State does not control prices or set prices, but said he can ensure that there is more flexibility regime that will benefit customers
Speaking on RTÉ News this evening, Eamon Ryan from the Green Party said the government should be trying to make it easier to for people to recycle.
He said new recycling initiatives should be introduced, highlighting that his party had proposed a scheme whereby people are paid 10 cent for every plastic bottle they recycle.
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what they should of tackled was gangs of teenagers carrying knives and killing each other and shown that around schools something thats true to society instead of work of fiction
@kaidon sharkey: what’s wrong with works of fiction of of a sudden?
@Dermot Blaine: Read his comment again and again, until you understand it, my friend
@Dermot Blaine: nothing….i like fiction esp sci fi….but if everyone is harping on about…oh this should be on in schools….but its only fiction…as my point they should of tackled reality about teenage gangs and the knife culture of stabbing each other would hit home more
@Dermot Blaine: Sure what did Shakespear ever teach us about anything?
@kaidon sharkey: Could, perhaps, one of the reasons for violent knife crime be rooted in some of the online stuff that happens?
@ecrowley ecrowley: like what
@kaidon sharkey: cos adolescents are not equipped to deal with the stuff they see online. They’re not equipped to see through some of the well known charlatans that are prominent.
@ecrowley ecrowley: ive been playing gta since the 90’s ive never went out and ran over somebody…watched horrors since i was a young a young fella and never killed anyone…the mediums may have changed but not everyone is going to go out and do what ever an advertiser says online dont like the term influencer…now there does be one or two that does go out and do all that but thats an amonolly…the majority is gangs and turf wars that there is more killings over that then what some one says online
What fluffy malarkey…… I raised my sons to be the best they could be, respect for everyone, ignore skin colour, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, political leanings or soccer team affiliation. I don’t need any netflix hyped fiction to ‘ enlighten ‘ me thanks
@Buster Lawless: well said!
@Buster Lawless: how can you raise your children to have respect for others when you don’t show respect yourself…you were banned on here last year after you were reported several times for horrible things you said…so leave it out with the fake outrage.
@Clare Power: with all due respect ma’am I’ve never been ‘banned’from anything, lest of all an open comments board intended for meaningful discussion, informative debate & very valid/ educational viewpoints
@Buster Lawless: oh please..pull the other one Ken..
@Clare Power: yesterday I was kevvy, generally you go for brendan……. I like this one ..ken……I’ll take that cheers
@Buster Lawless: every single comment made on this platform is kept…please show me where I called you brendan or kev…I’ll wait…oh no you can’t because I didn’t but you are the lovely Mary also…
@Buster Lawless: “I don’t need any netflix hyped fiction to ‘ enlighten ‘ me thanks” woah that’s some ultra triggered s41t. It’s not all about you buddy.
@Buster Lawless: more lies from the troll Buster!! You should watch this program as it helps showcase the masculine toxicity taking over society.
@Lance Taylor: Buster is a very precious ego centric. He couldn’t handle it. Conspiracy theories are more soothing.
@Buster Lawless: Ignoring isn’t helpful. Unfortunately, the “I don’t see color” comment often times just shuts down conversation. It’s a subtle message to the group that “seeing race” is a bad thing; therefore, there shouldn’t be discussion about it. “I don’t see color is the get out of talking or doing anything about racism card that ‘good white people’ carry in their wallet. The same goes for sexual orientation.
@Louis Jacob: he has cloned my profile before and spouts unbelievable lies. Reported many times.
@Jack Burton: Perhaps the most obvious way to interpret the “I don’t see color” comment is one of self-congratulation. Indeed, they’re making it known that they’re not a “racist” white person. They are in fact a “good” white person and as a “good” white person, they are so non-racist that they don’t even have the ability to notice race. It’s incredibly insulting to be informed that an aspect of people’s identity will be treated as ‘unseen’ and ‘erasable.’
@Buster Lawless:You guys are so out there man. You support Musk who’s been using his 2 year old as a prop and a defence, in full view of the world, as he turns himself into a super villain, or Putin who conscripts 15 year old Cossack boys and sends them off to hell, never to be seen again… but this guy does a perfectly normal thing with his son where they address a few basic principals before the boy becomes a man and you have the pearls clutched like old bats. So f%*king weird man.
@Jack Burton: “I don’t even notice/see colour” can be like you say and serve as a virtue signal but I believe if one connects to all as kindred then another meaning for this declaration develops where the innate humanity is what is always noticed first. Without question most people could identify white/non white after just a cursory glance but before that glance there is a connection. Some people who say “I don’t see colour” really mean “I don’t see colour until after I’ve connected with a human like myself”
@Buster Lawless: it’s an opinion piece! And after reading your reply I think that you’re the very 1 who needs to watch it!
Unfortunately lots of kids who are now 4, 7 or 10 years age in some Dublin hoods inherit their fathers behaviour with toxic silly macho masculinity, silly and shinny shoes or clothing, hate for people who look different than ones in their small world etc.
@Chris: my goodness what a complete and utter snob….your prejudice shining through and yet you probably think for some reason you’re morally superior….what an utter shameful and horrible post!
@Chris: toxic macho four year olds? We really do need that digital ID asap. Hopefully that’ll put a stop to those haters
@Darth O’Leary: do you think that there are no toxic macho 4 year old in the city?
@Darth O’Leary: you, as far as I can see, you are the only hater on here, and you always get ridiculed
An interesting, honest article. Fair play.
Adolescence is a load of toss.
We have always had psychos in our midst.
@Fergus O’Donnell: it similar to the fuss caused when the film thirteen came out in 2003.
UK based drama, we are not the UK. Disrespect in the school told me everything I needed to know
I try to keep my son safe from this toxic series. Life is full of vicious and vile people, why do I need to force this upon him and get him to question himself at a young age. The soy latte generation want to break childhood and teenage boys with their reasons and sow doubht and fear into them, to effectively then control then with Their extreme leftist view of the world. Today, my son and I happily travelled across Northern Ireland to play chess with other players his age. All perfectly balanced from all segments of society and races. Sitting down to play chess, challenge themselves and grow in mind and spirut and for the love of the game. It’s pure. Not sitting him down in front of violence on the TV. Wake up people, let them have innocence.
Nobody understands the hardships of being on dialysis
Watch the anti Catholic comments shoot up now
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