A 9% increase in bin charges for Panda Recycling customers means other companies are likely to announce similar rises, a consumer affairs expert has warned. 

The increase, which will impact a significant number of households in the Greater Dublin area, is noticeably above the general rate of inflation in the economy. 

“It's an average [increase] of 6%, but they are up to 9%,” Irish Independent Personal Finance Editor told Newstalk Breakfast.  

“So, the half yearly service charge is going from €70 to €75 - that's €150 a year before you put a bin out. 

“Then the charge for a general waste bin, if you’re with Panda, is going from €13.50 to €14.75 - now that's 9.2%. 

“Consider inflation at less than 3%, that's more than three times the inflation rate. 

“They're not increasing the charge for putting out a compost bin this time.”

Card and glass bottles in recycling bins ready for collection. Picture by: Steve Hawkins Photography / Alamy.

While Panda is only one waste collection company, Mr Weston added that he expects bin charges for other companies will also soon go up.  

“Companies just decide the pricing structure themselves and what we tend to get is a flurry of increases across all of them at the start of every year,” he said. 

“I've been on to the other ones, but they don't tend to reply to the media.

“The waste companies are rather disdainful of the media, I'm afraid. 

“But the market is not suiting consumers at all.” 

Recycling bins. Picture by: Alamy.com.

Mr Weston continued that waste collection services are long overdue a “radical overhaul” and public servants are considering alternatives. 

“We may go from the system you have at the moment, where companies compete for your business on a house-by-house basis, to one where they get a franchise, maybe just operate in one geographical area,” he said. 

“The competition authority as well, the CCPC, is very critical of how the industry is working. 

“They're saying there's a big danger of an unhealthy concentration of power and there's a need for regulators.”

In defence of the industry, Mr Weston said their job is not easy and is complicated by their customers’ frequent non-compliance with the basic rules of recycling. 

The introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme two years ago has also hit profits.

“A big problem they have as well is that people won't put the right stuff into the right bin,” he explained. 

“And one nappy in the paper recycling bin can contaminate a whole truckload. 

“But it's not satisfactory that we keep seeing price rises.”

Main image: Bins on a path in Dublin. Picture by: NCBI