Simon Coveney scraps plan for mandatory green bin levy

Minimum charges for the collection of recyclable “green bin” waste, due to be introduced in July, have been abolished by the Minister for Housing and Local Government Simon Coveney.

Under moves signed into law by the then minister for environment Alan Kelly in January, all waste collectors were expected to move to a pay-by-weight systems instead of flat fees by July 1st.

In a late change to the proposed switch Mr Coveney said households would not have to pay a minimum charge for green bin waste from July.

The pay-by-weight scheme will go ahead with householders paying a mimimum charge of 16 cent per kg for residual “black bin” waste and six cent per kg for compostable “brown bin” waste.

The charge for the green bin was to have been a mimumum of two cents per kilo. Its abolition took the industry - and according to sources Mr Kelly - by surprise on Wednesday.

‘Political sop’

Industry sources linked the move to a “political sop” designed to address concerns among Fianna Fáil and Independent politicians about the switch to pay-by-weight charges.

Members of the Anti-Austerity Alliance and Sinn Féin have already criticised the change to the pay-by-weight system and a number of Fianna Fáil TDs were known to have held reservations.

Chief among the difficulties felt by politicians was the percieved change from a “free” green bin, to one which would start to appear on householders’ bills from July.

The Department of Housing said such a perception was unreal as green bins are curently cross-subsidised by the black bin charge. The department stressed that where pay-by-weight has been introduced, householders’ bills have dropped in up to 87 per cent of cases.

Mr Kelly refused to comment on the situation but a source close to him said the move to drop the green bin charge was “politically driven” and similar to debates over Irish Water, remarking that “it will cost more in the end to pretend this is free”.

‘More transparent’

In a statement announcing the move, Mr Coveney said pay-by-weight would “mean that the majority of households will be charged in a new, fairer and more transparent way for the collection of their waste”. But he said following “close consultation with Minister for Natural Resources Denis Naughten” he had decided to remove the green bins from the mandatory minimum charges.

Mr Coveney said the change left the option open to the waste collectors to be flexible in how they charged for the green bin with the possibility “to absorb that cost in another part of their pricing structure”.

Mr Naughten was not available for comment on Wednesday.

Conor Walsh, secretary of the Irish Waste Management Association, said the switch was seen as an “inconvenience” by firms which had spent the last 15 months gearing up to be able to provide pay by weight for green bin waste.

He said there was a “popular misconception” that waste companies financed green bin collections through recycling the material in them. “It is a negative cost that is cross subsidised by other revenue streams” he said.

The exemption of the green bins form pay-by-weight was however welcomed by the Green Party which said “it’s now up to waste management companies to keep recycling free”.