Written answers

Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Waste Disposal

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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550. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will address a matter (details supplied) regarding waste; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39522/15]

Photo of Alan KellyAlan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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During the period in which local authorities were directly involved in the collection of household waste, a minority of individual Councils offered different levels of discount to selected households, based on different qualification criteria. As local authorities exited the waste collection market, some required the private operators which took on the Councils’ customers to provide a level of discount for existing waiver customers only, and even then for a limited time. The vast majority of contractual commitments for private operators to provide a waiver have now expired. In that context, the number of households in receipt of waiver discounts is likely to decline over time, especially as some householders were able to take advantage of special reduced offers elsewhere which actually undercut the waiver price. However, selected private operators still offer some level of discount to former waiver customers on a voluntary basis. In addition, a very limited number of local authorities make financial contributions towards the cost of, or pay for, the collection of waste from certain households. Again, the qualification criteria and level of support differ from area to area. Such expenditure means that these local authorities divert funding from other areas to support these waiver provisions.

The vast majority of local authorities no longer collect waste and that the market is now serviced by a diverse range of private operators, where the fees charged are a matter between service provider and customer and the services offered vary across the country. In that regard, it is becoming increasingly apparent that a national waiver scheme could not be imposed in the context of an open market for waste collection.

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