Pay by Weight….How to Confuse the Customer!
As if life was not complicated enough, it is amazing the variations in calculating waste charges that waste service providers have invented. Take Leitrim, a county with the lowest population density in Ireland, which has three waste service providers.
Provder A charges €80 per annum and then 20c/kilo for grey (general) waste, and 8c/kilo for green (recycling) and brown (food) waste. Provider B charges €236 per annum and then 17c/kilo for grey waste, with no charge per kilo for brown or green waste, while Provider C charges €312 per annum and 17c/kilo for grey waste if you exceed 48kg/month.
On average Irish households produce 480 kgs of general waste, 300 kgs of compostable waste and 180kgs of recycling per year, and using these figures provider A, B and C will charge respectively €224, €317 and €312 per annum. This is a varation of €93 in a households annual waste charges.
It therefore pays to shop around and decipher the method by which waste providers charge. Minister Kelly has promised to regulate the industry, however with widely varying charging mechanisms and the continued collection of mixed waste by waste service providers contrary to recent Regulations, it seems that third party actions are speaking louder than the Minister’s words!