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SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, September 14, 2009

QUESTION NO.15

QUESTION: Councillor D. Keating

To ask the Manager to report in detail on the introduction, including time-scale, for the long awaited and now overdue new domestic refuse system?

REPLY:

The new system will enable the removal of bin tags.  Each customer will have an account and will able to credit their account with the equivalent cost of their bin tag.  The bins will only be lifted where there is adequate credit in the account but it will mean that customers will no longer have to be concerned about tags being stolen and the Council will have no concerns regarding the production of counterfeit tags.  Customers will be able top up their accounts on-line, by phone and to purchase credit in a large range of local outlets.  Waiver customers will have their accounts credited on a quarterly basis so that each quarter entitles them to six lifts - the equivalent of their current waiver pack.

In order to achieve this 83,000 individual customer accounts had to be established which linked the bin to the address.  Following this extensive piece of work over 83,000 grey bins had to be registered and a large number had to be retrofitted with a chip.  The registration of the bins required considerable customer co-operation and there are now 2274 left to be registered.  It was anticipated that only 93% would be achieved so this level is quite unprecedented.  This was a complex operation in terms of the systems required, the negotiations which had to take place internally, establishment of outlets and the engagement with every household in the county.

Customer packs are now ready to issue - there is now a single outstanding issue to be negotiated with regard to the roll-out.  Once the roll-out commences - which at this stage is anticipated being mid-October, subject to the outstanding issue being agreed - it will take 10 to 12 weeks to complete the roll-out across the county.  In effect this should result in all bin tags being discontinued from 31st January 2010.