COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 08, 2019

QUESTION NO. 25

QUESTION: Councillor L. O'Toole

To ask the Chief Executive to report on the costs incurred in relation to domestic bin waivers provided for all the years it was in existence.

REPLY:

South Dublin County Council exited the waste collection market in April 2011.  It has been reported previously that in 2010 which was the last full year of operation of the service the overall cost to operate the waste collection service was €26m for the year and in that year the income from the service was €12m giving a deficit of €14m for the year.   The service was provided to 80,000 domestic customers as well as a small number of commercial customers, with around €25m of the total cost relating to the domestic side of the service and the balance being the cost of the commercial service.  In the years prior to the economic downturn the Council provided a waste collection service to approximately 15,000 waiver customers however this increased to approximately 20,000 waiver holders over the years 2008 to 2010.  The cost to provide the waste collection service to those 20,000 waiver holders was approximately €6.25m in 2010.  During the second half of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 a large number of customers, approximately 15,000 in that period, left the Council's service to avail of a service provided by one or other of the private sector operators and this left the Council with a total of 65,000 customers with 20,000 of these waiver holders.  In these circumstances the cost to provide the service to waiver customers was set to increase substantially due to the diminishing numbers of paying customers availing of the service.