Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are approximately 100 registered household kerbside waste collection companies operating in Ireland and there are approximately 3,000 waste collection permits currently extant. The industry employs almost 6,000 people directly while the indirect labour figure is less clear.

Given the number of companies competing for business in the household kerbside waste collection sector, the cost of service delivery is a deciding factor in winning customers and forms part of the differentiation in terms of competing on cost to the customer. As in the case of many other service provision sectors characterised by internal competition, wage costs are an important component of overall costs. Consequently service providers who can reduce their wage costs obtain an initial competitive advantage over others. It appears that for the majority of operators in the household kerbside waste collection sector many pay rates are at, or slightly above, the national minimum wage.

Mindful that the need for proper compliance with legislation is in the workers' and the wider public interest, my colleague, Deputy Bruton, sought reports from the relevant agencies under the aegis of the Department on the operation of the wider waste collection sector. These reports were furnished. These agencies included the National Employment Rights Authority, the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, the Labour Relations Commission, LRC, the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority.

Regulation of the waste management sector is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. He is currently considering options for the development of a new regulatory framework to reform the regulation of the collection of household waste. In this regard, the contents of these reports have been compiled and brought to the attention of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Officials of my Department are working with officials of that Department to ensure that issues arising from those reports are comprehended within that Department’s new regulatory framework.

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