COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, January 11, 2010

QUESTION NO.5

QUESTION: Councillor D. Keating

To ask the Manager to report on his new proposed waste collection charges for 2010, and when specifically will he introduce any such new charges for the collection of:

a. The Grey Bin, and

b. The Brown Bin?

REPLY:

There are a number of factors to consider when setting charges for waste.  This has been an area with a lot of changes in recent years and as borne out in the International Review of Waste will continue to be an area of change.  However in terms of charges at this time there are three factors to be taken into account:-

In 2009 the Council introduced a new advanced credit system which will enable customers to place credit on their accounts and for credit to be deducted each time their bin is lifted.  This new system wipes out the potential for fraudulent use of tags.  It has been impossible to ascertain the level of income that has been lost due to this fraud.  The Gardai have reported that the operation to produce them is very sophisticated and it is not possible to isolate the fraudulent tags used to date.  It is however anticipated that there will be an increase in income arising from wiping out this problem.

In addition the brown bin introduction which must be in place in the first quarter of 2010 will impact on the presentation rates in the county.  There has been a complete collapse of presentation of residual waste in the county and the brown bin may well stabilise the system and will, in turn, be taken into consideration when reviewing costs.  There will be a charge for the brown bin but it will be less than the black bin.  Bye-Laws will be brought before the Council which will enable customers to avail of either a composter or a brown bin.  Customers will be required under these bye-laws to use one of these systems.

Thirdly there has been a rationalisation proposal put before the unions in order to drive down costs in line with a changing situation in relation to the presentation of waste in the county.  The outcome of these negotiations will further impact on the service and impact on costs.

It must be noted that South Dublin County Council is the only provider in the Dublin region which enables customers to be fully in control of their waste costs as there is no fixed charge for the refuse service and customers can manage their own waste and in turn their own waste costs.

 The setting of a waste charge is an executive function and, at this stage, taking into account the points made above, it is premature to state eitherway what the charge will be in 2010 until the factors stated above can be accurately analysed.