Ireland finalises 'Pay by Weight' details
From 1 July this year, minimum charges will be imposed on the residual and food waste put out for collection by all Irish residents in an attempt to increase recycling, reduce waste going to landfill and save residents money.
Ireland’s kerbside collection bins are colour-coded across the country, with green bins taking recyclable materials, black bins taking residual waste and brown bins taking food and garden waste.
The new system, which was outlined in February by Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government Alan Kelly, initially included charges for all three bins. The specified minimum charges proposed by the Irish government were two cents (about 1.5p) per kilogramme (kg) for green bins, 11 cents (8.5p) per kg for black bins and six cents (4.5p) per kg for brown bins.
However, following opposition from a number of groups, including The Green Party, People Before Profit/Anti-Austerity Alliance, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin, the Department of the Environment has this week announced that charges for recyclables will be removed from the regulations.
The government hopes that assigning minimum charges to the different types of waste will encourage residents to utilise the recycling service (initially by making it cheaper to recycle, and now by making it free to do so) and separate food waste bins. The opposition had suggested that charging to use the recycling bin would increase illegal dumping and reduce the use of the recycling service.
Waste collection practices vary considerably from county to county in Ireland, although most collections are outsourced to private companies. Some waste contractors already charge by weight, with others charging a flat fee or operating a pay-per-collection service. The new regulations seek to ‘level the playing field’ across the country by standardising the charging criteria. Private waste companies will be able to charge as much as they like, as long as the fees are over the established minimum price, and could still individually charge for green bin recycling waste.
The rules will also impose an obligation on waste collectors to provide separate containers for food waste and to collect them at least once a fortnight, as well as making it an offence for residents to put food waste in the residual waste bin.
Through the new system, the government says that diversion from landfill ‘will likely grow by as much as 35 per cent or 440,000 tonnes’, with recycling levels expected to increase by ‘over 30 per cent’. According to European Union data, Ireland recorded a national recycling rate of 36.6 per cent in 2013, the most recent year reported.
‘Savings residents money’
Introducing the pay-per-weight system will also, the government says, save residents money.
In February, a statement released by the government explained: ‘Under the new system there will be no… hidden costs and customers will have clear sight of how the weight of waste they generate translates into cost. Weigh less, pay less is the simple maxim.’
Analysis carried out by the government using data from the Irish Central Statistics Office and Environment Protection Agency suggests that 87 per cent of households will see a reduction in their waste bills, with the potential for ‘everyone to see a reduced bill’ with proper awareness and segregation.
An awareness campaign has this week been launched to highlight the potential of the new charging structure to residents. The Southern Waste Region has also published a graphic explaining the changes. Launching the campaign, Simon Coveney, Irish Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, said: “Pay by weight charging should provide better value for households who minimise their waste and segregate correctly. It will help Ireland achieve current and future EU recycling and landfill waste targets, and will also result in further job creation, due to the processing of more recyclable and organic waste.”
