Waste charges- pay by weight

The two biggest increase in costs this year will be motor insurance (up by generally 50% for most people) and now bin charges (up by my reckoning 100% for most people).

Its amazing how these issues are not headline when the people moaning about water charges (a measly €160 a year) are getting such airplay. my bins and car insurance will cost me an extra €600 next year and there is absolutely nothing that I can do about it!

Also, where did Alan Kelly pull his numbers from? He said that 87% of the population would pay less with the new weighing system. Laughable!
 
I think a lot of people made the point about strangling water charges at birth so that in 10 years time we're not having the same discussion about it doubling \ tripling \ quadrupling in cost...

Someone should do a flyer drop with a photo of Alan Kelly and that quote beneath him, along with the quoted prices here... that's a political career we need to finish off before it can do any more damage.
 

Except that the cost of providing potable water to households will continue to rise and probably do so exponentially because of the public demand for ever more stringent water quality and public health standards and the decaying state of our water transmission network.

We can pretend that this isn't happening if we contrive to have taxpayers (including those who can't access the public water system) blindly stump up the cost as we do already with innumerable stealth taxes, or we can confront it by having a transparent charges system that reflects the actual cost.

Kelly has expressed his preference an open and transparent approach. I happen to agree with this stance myself.

You are free to disagree but don't cod yourself for a second that in doing so you will be somehow stopping the cost of your water consumption from rising sharply in the coming years.
 

I cannot reconcile openness and transparency with the comments by Alan Kelly as a Minister in relation to the cost impact of pay by weight. Either he was codding himself, or he was trying to cod the general public.
If there is a public statement by Kelly in which he envisages waste charges doubling as a result of this legislation, I withdraw that remark.

I cannot recall a public statement by Kelly as a Minister or TD in which he said that he envisaged residential water charges on the order of multiples of what were in place during his time in government. If you have a source for that, please provide it. Otherwise, I think it's highly doubtful to speak of openness and transparency on his behalf in relation to that issue either.
 
Sure we all know that the water charges levied since last year didn't cover the full economic cost of provision of water. It was you who mentioned the prospect of water costs doubling \ tripling \ quadrupling within 10 years. That's on the cards even if you avoid dedicated water charges being imposed and even if Kelly's political career is over.

I stand over my view that Kelly's preference for charges is more open and transparent than your own for stealth taxation. That isn't a defence of Kelly himself - I couldn't give a fig for him or his party or their ideology - but it's self-evident.
 
T McGibney said:
I stand over my view that Kelly's preference for charges is more open and transparent than your own for stealth taxation. That isn't a defence of Kelly himself - I couldn't give a fig for him or his party or their ideology - but it's self-evident.
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I think if someone's preference is for charges, then openness and transparency demands that you be honest about the level of charges that are required.

A separate requirement of openness and transparency attaches to declaring the actual costs of funding something - whether it's water charges or waste charges - separate to the question of the source of those funds.

Understating the charges is as dishonest as understating the costs.

A stealth tax is a tax levied in such a way that is largely unnoticed, or not recognized as a tax. It has nothing to do with the purpose to which the tax revenue is assigned. But by your definition, if you take a step back and think about it, our public health service is funded through 'stealth' taxation.
 
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theresa1 said:
Single people dont put out much waste so they need to get money from these people hence the increased service charge - totally predictable. They are not a charity - they will get the same revenue in or more -one way or another.
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I'm with Thorntons
I paid 162.40 in lift charges this year including an annual fee of 50 euro.
With these new changes, my new annual bill will rise to 264.05 euro.
There's only me in the house. I recycle as much as I can and all food/garden waste goes into the brown bin.
I am beyond raging.........
 
What are the alternatives for low volume black bin users? Are there legitimate options to use the Civic Amenity sites for recyclables and similar drop off facilities for general waste?
 
Leo said:
What are the alternatives for low volume black bin users? Are there legitimate options to use the Civic Amenity sites for recyclables and similar drop off facilities for general waste?
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This is what I do. We are a household of two, now, and we take a standard size black bag of rubbish every four to six weeks. The charge is €5 which includes a carful of recyclable waste.
I asked how they would handle the new charge per kg, but the operatives there had no idea how it would apply to the site.
 

What site are you bringing them to that charges €5?
 
Leo, it's the Kinsale Road site in Cork. I am hoping there will not be a flood of householders switching.
I see the Kilkenny Dunmore site charges €5.50. Does each council offer this facility?
 
Thanks Gervan & vandriver. I had seen the Ballymount site but was hoping there might be another option around Dublin around the €5 mark that would make this a more compelling option.
 
How can Thorntons justify increasing their service charge by 108%?? It is going from €50 per year to €104! Their costs have not increased by the same amount. I estimate that my bin charges will increase as follows:

Service Charge = 108%
Black Bin = 29%
Brown Bin = 109%

It's a joke
 

I see stats that the cost of living isn't all that high compared to other countries and compared to Irish wages. But for a very long time wage increases have been a long way behind increases in living costs, housing etc.

We have people talking about new car sales, on the other people unable to afford medical car and dentists, pensions, car insurance etc. There seems to a widening wealth gap. Sections of the economy completely out of balance with each other.
 
AES provided the following information to me on my account.

I can advise you the charges for Pay by Weight is as follows, The service charge is €90 for six months or €15 per month.

· Waste bin = 25 cent per KG
· Recycling bin = 0 cent per KG
· Organic bin = 15 cent per KG
· Glass Bin = 0 cent per KG

Stealth tax again, It will see my very modest waste collection bill go from €285 to €350 from the projected spreadsheet i put together.

I passed the spreadsheet to AES who did not dispute it. The service charge goes up from 75 to €90 alone.

Will be cancelling next week when bins are emptied.
 
My current service charge is €23 per month. My supplier down the country is reducing this to €14 per month and then charging waste @23 cent per kg and compost at 16 cent per kg. Recycling is free.
 
I am on a small 140 litre bin, not the 240 and not the 360. If you consider for a young family that throws away nappies, then for every child at a rate of 6 nappies a day, their charge will be at least 1.50 per day due to the weight etc of them.

It is becoming an eye watering expensive country.
 
This is going to cost me an absolute fortune. I burn anything I can.
I normally put out a bin once every 6 weeks and that costs me 5 euro with no annual charges. I put a bin out around 8 times a year at a cost of 8*5 = 40 euro....that does not even cover the annual charges people have to pay.
 
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