Charging for green bins is a retrograde step – O’Brien

​Fianna Fáil candidate for Dublin Fingal Senator Darragh O’Brien maintains that charging for green bins is a retrograde step. “This is yet another charge and will lead to more illegal dumping,” he warned.

“While Fianna Fáil supports the replacement of flat rate bin charges with pay-by-weight bin charges for households, we do not believe that a charge should be imposed on green bins  as this will discourage recycling by households.

“In government, Fianna Fáil doubled the percentage of municipal waste that is recycled from 20% to 40% from 2002 to 2011. However, charging households for green bins will discourage recycling and could reverse the hard won progress made in this area.

“While the EPA says that 87% of households will pay less for waste under a pay-by-weight charge, larger families (about 4.5% or 170,000 households) could face much higher charges. This is fundamentally unfair and needs to be addressed by giving families an allowance for children. A waiver should also be introduced for low income households who just cannot afford to pay.


“In addition, legislation has to be introduced to establish greater transparency and consistency from all the private operators so that consumers can compare pricing plans and obtain best value. Finally, a mechanism must be put in place for apartment dwellers and those living in areas where they cannot store wheelie bins to ensure that they get fair pricing,” urged Senator O’Brien.