Written answers

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Waste Disposal Charges

Photo of Róisín ShortallRóisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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1039. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the usage element contained in the new waste collection charges; if steps will be taken to protect older and disadvantaged householders who may only put their black bin out every four to five weeks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25539/18]

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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Last summer, I established the Price Monitoring Group to monitor pricing developments for residential household waste collection services during the phasing out of flat rate fees. The Group is chaired by Mr Frank Conway, an independent financial expert.  The membership of the Group also includes a statistician from the Central Statistics Office and Shelfwatch, an independent price monitoring group.  The Group monitors 26 service providers; this comprises 19 individual companies with several of those being monitored in more than one area. I have recently decided to extend the operation of the Price Monitoring Group to the end of the year to continue monitoring pricing developments.The Chair of the Price Monitoring Group, Mr Conway, has recently reported to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment that while fluctuations in prices and service offerings have been observed, the overall trend is relative price stability for householders.  The Price Monitoring Group has reported that there are currently 9 different types of price models on the market. The main price examples include a service charge plus charge per bin lift, with an excess per kg charge, and a service charge plus per kg weight charge. The most popular service offering now is the ‘service charge including weight allowance, plus per kg charge for excess above allowance’.

The Price Monitoring Group is displaying the prices for each company that it monitors and it has published detailed data on the prices it is tracking on a monthly basis. The most recent analysis from April was published on 25 May 2018 and is available on my Department's website.

The charges applied by waste management companies are subject to compliance with all applicable environmental and other relevant legislation, including contract and consumer legislation.

In line with the commitments set out in A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland, published in 2012, and in the interest of encouraging further waste prevention and greater recycling, flat-rate fees for kerbside household waste collection are being phased out over the period autumn 2017 to autumn 2018, as customers contracts come up for renewal.

The necessary regulatory steps have been put in place to give effect to this measure. As announced in mid-2017, mandatory per kilogramme 'pay by weight' charging is not being introduced. Allowing for a range of charging options, which encourage householders to reduce and separate their waste, provides flexibility to waste collectors to develop various service-price offerings that suit different household circumstances.

It is worth noting that this measure is not new for about half of kerbside household waste customers, who are already on an incentivised usage pricing plan, i.e., a plan which contains a per lift or a weight related fee.

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