Miriam Lord: Beware the march of advancing wheelie bins

Move aside, water charges – the wheelie bins are coming.

At first, the sound of the wheels was just a distant rumble. Nothing to seriously trouble a jittery minister with leadership ambitions or a taoiseach looking to end his period of office with the minimum of aggravation.

It started a few weeks ago: some Opposition queries for written reply by Ministers, and then one or two questions during quieter times in the Dáil chamber.

These concerned the Government’s new waste policy, which will see new charges for refuse collection introduced on July 1st. This charging regime is to be implemented to appease the EU gods.

But there is nothing to worry about. It is all to the good. At least that’s what minister for the environment Alan Kelly said back in January when introducing the payment system. Based on pay-by-weight, he said it would result in savings for 87 per cent of people. That’s not to be sneezed at.

There is a new Minister on the block now. Yesterday in the Dáil, the Taoiseach couldn’t stress enough how much his man, Simon Coveney, is all over the rubbish. If he said it once over the course of the morning, Enda said it a dozen times: “This is being watched very carefully by Minister Coveney.”

Furthermore, repeated Enda, when the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government isn’t carefully watching the wheelie bins, he is “monitoring the situation very closely.”

Not so much as a bluebottle will get past Simon.

Brownie points

He’s all for the waste charges payment regime. (It’s not just a Dublin thing, by the way. Kerry’s Micheál Healy-Rae asked questions about it three weeks ago. If the Healy-Raes are picking up on possible problems for their constituents, there are problems.) Coveney seems very keen. Judging by the written answers his departmental elves have been producing, the pay-by-waste system is a marvellous development which will help educate householders on the importance of recycling while saving them money and earning the Government brownie points in Europe.

Simon likes to begin his written replies by explaining why the change was necessary: “Government waste policy is predicated on the waste hierarchy as set out in the EU’s Waste Framework Directive.”

His legislation requires waste companies to charge for each kilo of waste, with a minimum mandatory fee per kilo depending on the colour of the bin. Your black bin commands top whack, the brown smelly one costs far less per kilo and the light-as- a-feather green bin has a zero cent mandatory fee.

There do not appear to be any maximums mentioned on the fee front. Of course, the company can also levy a service charge to cover their substantial costs and overheads. No maximum there either.

The upside for consumers is that “householders should be able to more easily compare the charges of different providers under the new system and choose the option that suits them best or is most cost effective.”

In an open market, Simon says, the different operators will be competing for business and so “excessive pricing by individual companies will offer the opportunity for rival operators to provide their services at a cheaper price”.

That all seems very sensible, with people even managing to save a few bob while doing their bit for the environment.

Opposition TDs are not so sure.

Joan Collins of Independents 4 Change brought up the issue yesterday at Leaders’ Questions. Róisín Shortall of the Social Democrats followed up afterwards with another question – her third time in a week to raise waste charges in the House.

On Tuesday, Shortall said “the vast majority” of householders are now looking at bigger bills because the waste companies have not only hiked up their standing charges, but increased the pay-by-weight fees far above the statutory minimum.

Collins, meanwhile, spoke of the “exorbitant increase” in charges which would have an immediate impact on ordinary people.

Never fear, assured Enda, again and again. Simon is “monitoring” things.

Spirit of the legislation

The Taoiseach kept talking about “the spirit of the legislation.” It would “make people think differently “ about which bin to use.

And what about “the spirit of multinational companies,” wondered Joan. “It doesn’t happen that way.”

A 75 per cent increase for some people? “That is not in the spirit of recycling.”

People will react, predicted Joan, urging the Government to regulate the industry by imposing a cap on annual charges with immediate effect.

“This is an issue that people are really incensed about,” she thundered. “We will organise and resist.”

Later on, during the Order of Business, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams asked about the waste charges. “There is an urgency about this” he said.

A warning klaxon went off in the Dáil for the Government yesterday.

They didn’t hear it when it sounded over the water charges.

Will they hear it this time?

Or will they wait on the march of the wheelie bins?