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New campaign calls for scrapping of "retrograde" recycling bin charges

There is mounting opposition against plans to introduce charges to green bins. A new campaign has...
Newstalk
Newstalk

09.01 16 May 2016


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New campaign calls for scrappi...

New campaign calls for scrapping of "retrograde" recycling bin charges

Newstalk
Newstalk

09.01 16 May 2016


Share this article


There is mounting opposition against plans to introduce charges to green bins.

A new campaign has been launched to scrap plans for the pay-by-weight charge.

The Green Party claims the idea is 'short sighted' and that more efforts are needed to encourage recycling.

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"The green bin charges had the potential to threaten the community goodwill towards recycling in Ireland", Green Party spokesperson for the environment, Cllr. Malcolm Noonan said.

"For recycling to succeed it needs to be free to the public".

"EU principles on waste management call for the reduction of waste and diversion from landfill or incineration. We need to be encouraging even more recycling, not financially penalising people for disposing of waste responsibly", he added.

Providers are set to move to a system where homeowners will pay-per-weight for their waste collection from July 1st.

The Department of the Environment claims almost 90% of Irish households will see their waste bills reduced with the introduction of the new system.

Currently some householders are charged a collection rate that compensates collectors for each green/brown bin collected. Even where there is not a direct charge for green/brown bin, the cost of this service is priced into the overall charge.

"Last desperate act"

"While some people might think that this will mean that they are to be charged for the first time for the recycling bin, the reality is that all households have always been charged in some way for this service", the Department of the Environment said in a statement in February.

"Where a collector offered this bin at a zero charge, the true price was reflected in higher residual waste charges".

"In other words, the recycling bin was paid for by hidden cross-subsidisation", it added.

People Before Profit are demanding a scrapping of the charges introduced by Alan Kelly, claiming it amounts to "environmental sabotage".

TD Bríd Smith told Newstalk Breakfast this is a profit-making exercise.

"It was the last desperate act - and done very quietly - by the previous Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly before the government went out of office".

"They're charging for recycling; we think this is a very retrograde and seriously damaging...move".

"Recycling creates its own profits, recycling is healthy for the environment, recycling causes people to have to make a bit of an effort - separating your plastic and your cans and your paper, rather than throwing everything into the one bin - and recycling shouldn't be something we have to pay for cause it generates its own profit".

"What they're doing now...is creating an extra charge for the green bin, and the pay-by-weight charge for everything else - so it's the green bin charge that we're specifically saying is retrograde".

Louise O'Reilly of Sinn Féin says they will undo years of work convincing people to recycle.


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