These were the words of Deputy Joan Burton TD when she received information from Fingal County Council’s Director of Environment PJ Howell when Deputy Burton sought information on what the Council’s has planned for household refuse collections and recycling in 2008.
Deputy Burton said that the €110 up front flat rate charge that will be introduced by the Council in 2008 which will be on top of the existing €8.00 charge for black bins, is a negative and backward step in encouraging the public to recycle their household refuse in Dublin West.
While the Council plan to continue their waiver scheme, the vast majority of householders in the Fingal area will be faced with an additional up front payment, which will put further pressure on already stretched household budgets following recent increases in fuel and food.
Fingal County Council’s press release is reproduced in full below
Full kerbside recycling service to be rolled out in Fingal Fingal County Council has confirmed it is extending its brown bin service countywide so that householders can recycle up to two thirds of their household waste through their green and brown bin services. This rollout of the full household recycling service is to be substantially completed in Fingal during 2008. The green bin service will also be expanded. P.J. Howell, Director of Environment with Fingal County Council, confirmed today that building on the success of the brown bin pilot project, plans are well advanced to extend the brown bin service to every house in Fingal and to double the frequency of the green bin collection to twice per month, including allowing plastic bottles in the packaging to be accepted in the green bin.
“Rolling out the full recycling service will have implications for how Fingal County Council recovers its costs for operating the household waste management service and we undertake to make any changes in our charges as fair and user friendly as possible. From 2008 we must introduce a fixed charge of €110 per year on a phased basis, once a household has been provided with the full range of kerbside recycling services i.e. the green and brown recycle bins and the black bin for non-recyclable waste. We must operate a refuse and recycling service that pays for itself and at the moment it is heavily subsidised”,P.J. Howell explaines.
In 2007 Fingal County Council spent €20.1m collecting and managing household waste, €10.4 million of this on recycling services alone. €11.1m of this cost was contributed by the householder through bin tags. A further €2.1m was recovered from the sale of the dry recyclable material and from Government grants, a figure not as high as is commonly thought. The remaining €6.9m shortfall arising from the cost of the service was subsidised by Fingal County Council. In 2008 costs will increase further for an expanded waste management service. The cost of the green and brown bins together will increase from €7.3m to €11m.