Manager sets new Bin Charges to apply from 1st August in South Dublin County
Issued : Tuesday 20 July, 2010
The Manager confirmed to councillors at the July Council meeting on 12th July that with effect from1st August 2010 the charges per lift for the collection of domestic bins will be as follows:
Standard 240 litre Black Bin €10.50
140 litre Black Bin €6
New 140 litre Brown Bin €5.25
Green Bin Free
All charges include VAT(in accordance with requirement in 2010 Finance Act).
Waiver customers will continue to have their accounts topped up to 6 lifts per quarter enabling them to present 3 black and 3 brown bins without charge each quarter.
Below I include the Manager's
Report on Revised Environmental Waste Charge for Domestic Customers
Unfortunately councillors have no role in deciding on the level of Bin Charges. The Fianna Fail Government of some years ago gave sole authority for the settting of domestic waste management charges to County Managers, so we could not stop or amend the increase in the charges.
In fairness to our Manager in South Dublin County, the Council does have one of the fairest system of Bin Charges of all local authorities in the country: there is no flat or standing charge and there is a waiver system which provides householders with low incomes with 24 free bin lifts in each calendar year. Most local authorities have a flat charge, and many have no waiver system. The Government has consistently refused to fund a national waiver scheme, so South Dublin funds the waiver sytem from within its own resources.
By now many households will have had their Brown Bins delivered, with an explanatory leaflet setting out the materials which can be put in the Brown Bin. The Council's plan is to have a Brown Bin and Black Bin collection on alternative weeks. This means that there will be 26 Black Bin collections in a year; I have some cincerns taht this will be adequate for large families with babies and young children, or for householders in which one or more family members have special needs. As a councillor I will be monitoring the effectiveness of the new collection rota. Cllr Eamon Tufffy
COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, July 12, 2010
HEADED ITEM NO 12
Report on Revised Environmental Waste Charge for Domestic Customers
WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICE
South Dublin County Council’s Waste Management Service is provided to almost 74,000 households in the County and to businesses, schools and community facilities.
Household residual waste has been collected on a weekly basis by Council staff to date. This system of weekly collection is currently changing to fortnightly on the introduction of the brown bin system for food and garden waste. The residual waste collected is baled at the Council’s Baling Station at Ballymount and transported to the Council’s engineered and EPA licensed landfill in Arthurstown, Co Kildare located 1.6 km south-east of the village of Kill, Co. Kildare and the N7 national primary road. The brown waste will also go to Ballymount and then be transferred to a private treatment facility in Carlow. As Kill will cease operations in December 2010 the region is currently engaged in a tender process for the identification of alternative landfill space until the Waste to Energy Facility at Poolbeg is complete.
The following indicates the tonnage of household waste collected 2007-2009 from households in the County.
Year Tonnage Collected
2007 60,857
2008 56,775
2009 54,114
with an average presentation rate of 33%.
In addition to the Black Bin collection for residual waste, the Council also funds a household collection service for recyclable waste - Green Bin, which is provided by a contractor on the Council’s behalf. In 2005, the range of materials collected for recycling in the green bins in South Dublin County amounted to over 12,600 tonnes and included newspapers, card and pamphlets, aluminium and steel cans and tetrapak cartons. By 2009 this had grown to 18,600 tonnes and customers are also now able to dispose of plastics in the green bin. In terms of recycling, the literature supports the view that the closer and easier it is to recycle the higher the rates, with Kerbside being the most effective. Studies have shown that there is a greater increase in the weight of recyclables when the bin is collected every two weeks. The tonnages presented for recycling in the County are steadily increasing each year, thus increasing the amount of waste diverted from landfill.
The following indicates the tonnage of recyclable waste collected in the period 2005-2009 from households in the County.
Year Tonnage Collected
2005 12,600
2006 13,817
2007 15,285
2008 18,520
2009 18,600
PAY-PER-USE SYSTEM
In compliance with EU policy and with Government policy, the Council is required to apply the “Pay per Use” system to Environmental Waste Charges. Pay per Use is a fair system which directly links the charge to the amount of waste each household produces. The system enables householders to control their own costs by minimising the waste they produce in the first instance and also to make a contribution to the environmental good by limiting the residual waste to landfill and diverting recyclable materials for recycling. This brings environmental gains to society and to present and future generations. In the EU hierarchy of waste options, the least preferred option is disposal to landfill. Charging users based on the amount of waste they
produce encourages waste reduction, re-use and recycling which are the preferable options for waste management.
In 2009 the Council introduced a new Advanced Credit System which has further driven down costs by eliminating fraudulent tags from the system, enabling waivers to be allocated quarterly, reducing commission on sale of tags and the administrative issues associated with use of tags. While initially difficult for customers this system is proving to be more effective both from a consumer and management perspective.
In February 2004, the Council introduced a Pay per Use charge following two years of annual fixed charges. This charge was set at a relatively low amount to allow for householders to adjust to a new system. The initial cost per lift in 2004 was €6. This rose to €8 in 2006 and there has been no price increase since that time. The Council engaged in efficiency reviews in order to keep down costs to the customers in spite of escalating costs caused by reductions in tonnage; increases landfill levies and compliance costs The outcome of introducing the per-lift charge was that the tonnages collected in the Black Bins reduced from 77,000 in 2003 to 54,000 tonnes in 2009, a reduction of 30%.
COSTS OF PROVIDING THE SERVICE
It has been well documented that in the last ten years, the regulation and standards required in relation to how waste is collected and disposed of has resulted in significant cost increases. The requirements for better environmental standards of facilities and services are accompanied by a realisation that we are all responsible for the waste we produce, that our waste should be handled and disposed of in appropriate and sustainable ways and that the costs should be funded by those who generate the waste – Polluter Pays Principle.
The cost of providing the waste service consists of a number of elements. These include the staff costs of collecting waste every week, the associated administrative account management elements, the costs of baling circa 54,000 tonnes of waste, transporting the baled waste by container to landfill, and maintaining the infrastructure (baling station and landfill) in compliance with the stringent environmental standards of the Environmental Protection Agency.
In relation to the recycling options, the costs include funding of the following;
- The Civic Amenity Recycling Centre at Ballymount where a range of items are accepted free of charge,
- The provision of and servicing bring banks (glass and cans across 60 locations).
- The green bin collection to every household once every two weeks collecting a range of materials (paper, card, magazines, books, cardboard food packaging, beverage cans including mineral and beer cans, steel food cans, and tetrapak cartons and plastics)
- The introduction of the new Brown Bin Collection for food waste (including cooked and raw meat and fish, vegetables and fruit, pasta, bread and teabags) and garden waste (such as grass, weeds and hedge clippings).
REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL WASTE CHARGE
South Dublin County Council is one of a small number of counties in Ireland where the waste service is still provided by direct labour. The Council provides an integrated waste system which includes the collection service and the ancillary recycling services which now also include the brown bin service. This service is provided county-wide regardless of location or economic status of the customer.
The cost of delivering this service in 2010 is:-
SDCC Cost of Domestic Waste Collection | |
SDCC Landfill Costs | 4,130,616 |
SDCC Baling Costs | 1,228,444 |
SDCC Collection Costs | 6,618,495 |
SDCC Recycling Costs | 5,168,351 |
SDCC Fixed Disposal Costs | 60,124 |
| 17,206,030 |
There has been no increase in the charge since April 2006 in spite of the escalating costs, drop in presentation and increased recycling service.
Section 111 Finance Act 2010 now requires the Council to include VAT with effect from 1st July 2010 in the charge for all local authority services where competition with private sector service providers could occur. Waste Management is one of those services. VAT is being levied at 13.5% on waste collection. There have however been a number of discussions with Revenue to establish the VAT elements the Council will be able to offset against this. Based on our inputs and the number of lifts this credit is approximately 81 cent per lift. The Council will now be liable for VAT on every domestic refuse lift for which a charge is levied and must pay Revenue 13.5% of the cost of each lift. The VAT inputs will be credited back.
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In addition there are a number of savings which it is anticipated have yet to come on stream and will also impact positively on the cost per lift. These include the finalisation of negotiations with staff on rationalisation, reductions in costs on baling as a result of the new landfill space and indeed the landfill space itself. The Council will therefore anticipate these savings and pass them on to customers now in advance of the savings actually being achieved:-
(a) the input credit on a per lift basis
(b) anticipated savings yet to be achieved
Therefore with effect from 1st August 2010 the cost of a lift for customers in South Dublin will be:-
Black 240 Litre €10.50 – incl VAT
Black 140 Litre € 6.00 – incl VAT
Brown 140 Litre € 5.25 – incl VAT
This is made up as follows:-
| Base Cost# | Minus VAT Credit | Ex VAT | VAT Element | Full Charge |
Black 240 | €10.05 | .81c | €9.24 | €1.25 | €10.50 |
Black 140 | € 5.87 | .47c | €5.40 | €0.73 | € 6.00* |
Brown 140 | € 5.10 | .47c | €4.63 | €0.62 | € 5.25 |
Green |
|
|
|
| No charge |
* rounded down from €6.13
# Base cost is the total cost of integrated lift minus the anticipated savings yet to be achieved
Following the increase which will take effect on Sunday 1st August 2010, the Council’s charges will still be amongst the lowest in the country. Information for comparison of Refuse Collection Charges in Local Authorities throughout the Country is provided in the attachment and Costs from Private Sector Collectors are also provided for information.
While there is now an increase in the charge it is anticipated that the new brown bin service will bring about a changing pattern of presentation. The Council is providing the maximum control of waste costs to each household. Every household will have 2 Brown Bin and 2 Green Bin collections every month and it is expected that there will be a reduction in the presentation rate of the Black Bins every 2 weeks. Set out below is the impact of the charge on households and as demonstrated it is possible for some households to save on their costs, while for others the annual increase is minimal. The Council remains committed to a pay per use system and will not be introducing a flat charge.
The Council also commits to work to further reduce costs over which we have control and to hold those costs to the consumer at this rate until August 2012.
Scenario One with Current Pricing Structure
Average householder presenting the following:
Black Bin (240 litre) 26 times a year €208
Green Recycling Bin (240 litre) 26 times a year, No Charge
Brown Bin (140 litre) 26 times a year. €104
Annual Cost to the Householder: €312
Scenario One with Revised Pricing Structure
Average householder presents the following:
Black Bin (240 litre) 26 times a year, €273
Green Recycling Bin (240 litre) 26 times a year, No Charge
Brown Bin 26 (140-litre) times a year. €136.50
Annual Cost to the household: €409.50
Where no change in behaviour takes place increased cost will be €97.50
However where an average household changes their behaviour and fully utilises the recycling options available to them:-
Black Bin (240 litre) 13 times a year, €136.50
Green Recycling Bin (240 litre) 26 times a year, No Charge
Brown Bin (140 litre) 26 times a year. €136.50
Annual Cost to Household:- €273
There is therefore potential for households to decrease their costs, and as in this example, the reduction could be €39 per annum
As the new charge will come into being on 1st August 2010 all customers must ensure that they have adequate credit in their accounts to avail of a collection service from that date.
Waiver customers will continue to have their accounts topped up to 6 lifts per quarter enabling them to present 3 black and 3 brown bins without charge each quarter.
It is fundamental to the service that those who receive the service carry the cost of providing the service. The review of Environmental Waste Charge in South Dublin County from August 2010 is in line with this policy and further reviews of charge will take place in coming years as the various elements of the service are put in place and as integration of the system is established
Waste Management Initiatives
The Council is providing the full range of kerbside waste management services to encourage householders to become more environmentally conscious and continuing with the waiver scheme.
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Underpinning the environmental and waste management agenda is the need to grow awareness and provide information and advice to households, businesses, schools and communities. This is being delivered by the Environmental Awareness team of the Council and the Eco Week which include community events open to
everyone from Community Groups to Schools, Householders to Individuals and businesses. All events are free and range from exhibitions, workshops, seminars to storytelling and much more to raise awareness of environmental issues and solutions in a fun and practical way –
Householders can control their costs by minimising the amount of waste they generate, by using the following;
- The Green Bin for recyclables
- The Brown Bin for food waste and garden waste
- The Bring Banks
- The Civic Amenity and Recycling Centre at Ballymount where a range of recyclables are accepted free and
- A home composter
- Using freetrade.ie to arrange for re-use of bulky items
The Council also carries the cost of a waiver scheme, with each qualifying household receiving 6 lifts per quarter.
WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE.
There are a range of projects and measures contained in the Waste Management Plan for the Dublin region 2005-2010, which will lead to a fully integrated service. To provide a fully integrated waste management service South Dublin County Council is expanding the service to include an organic Brown Bin collection, the material from which will be composted. Brown Bins are currently being delivered to all of our customers this summer for the collection of food and garden waste. This will contribute towards reaching the ambitious 59% target for recycling set by the four Dublin local authorities.
The four Dublin local authorities work closely to develop the infrastructure and services for an integrated solution to Waste Management for the Region. This approach includes working with Repak and with industry to maximise the Producer Responsibility contribution.
Cllr 
