Dun Laoghaire planning overhaul of waste collection

[David Cochrane]

The Irish Times this morning reports that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is planning a major overhaul of it's waste management service.

It claims

- waste collection staff only work 3.5 hours a day
- that it is considering pulling out of the four-borough waste management strategy
- that private companies offer a far superior service
- the customer base fell from 66,000 in December to 34,000 last month
- that the amount of waste collected reduced from 65,000 to 18,000 tonnes in the same period

Now, firstly it's obvious that the decline in waste collected is proportionally higher than the the decline in the customer base, meaning that people are dumping less waste, I would assume there is a significant uptake in recycling (or in some part of Dun Laoghaire dumping ).

Owen Keegan has said that commercial companies can offer a far superior (and I assume cost effective is included in that) service and that staff are working fewer hours due to less loads being collected.

Mr Keegan told councillors that union agreements were based on 26,000 bin lifts per week, but the service was now only averaging 11,000, "with the same number of staff and vehicles deployed".

The People Before Profit Alliance's Richard Boyd Barrett is organising a protest on Monday October 13th in response.

[Rahood]

I'm in Foxroxk and nobody from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council collects my wine/Vodka bottles every month.

[JCSkinner]

I loathe Keegan but he's right.
I've sat in the council chamber and heard them wittering about charging people to recycle (!) even as Panda et al stole all their customers.
They should shut down the council system and make it obligatory for residents to sign up to a waste disposal service.
I did over a year ago and am still getting letters from the council service threatening court and so on if I don't pay them for a service I cancelled over 12 months ago.
Not exactly on the ball, are they?

[Defeated Romanticist]

The Irish Times this morning reports that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is planning a major overhaul of it's waste management service.

It claims

- waste collection staff only work 3.5 hours a day
- that it is considering pulling out of the four-borough waste management strategy
- that private companies offer a far superior service
- the customer base fell from 66,000 in December to 34,000 last month
- that the amount of waste collected reduced from 65,000 to 18,000 tonnes in the same period

Now, firstly it's obvious that the decline in waste collected is proportionally higher than the the decline in the customer base, meaning that people are dumping less waste, I would assume there is a significant uptake in recycling (or in some part of Dun Laoghaire dumping ).

Owen Keegan has said that commercial companies can offer a far superior (and I assume cost effective is included in that) service and that staff are working fewer hours due to less loads being collected.



The People Before Profit Alliance's Richard Boyd Barrett is organising a protest on Monday October 13th in response.

WTF is he going to protest? All these selfish neoliberals producing less trash putting the working class under pressure!

[Rahood]

Should I myself take time out of my day and head towards a Bottle/Paper Dump. Every public house should give over a single car park space. Within that space there is room for three bins.

[David Cochrane]

He probably thinks 3.5 hours is waaay too long to work a day.

[lostexpectation]

do the council not consider waste collection a health issue and therefore must provide a service to its public.

keegan might aswell go work for greenstar

[john scott]

This is a non-story. Waste collection has been privatised for years down the country. Where I live I think it happened about 10 years ago. Obviously lots of people who work in The Irish Times and RTE live in in that local authority area. This morning I heard this "news story" on the 6.30, 7.00 and 7.30 news headlines. It shared space with the world economic collapse. God above, who decides what is news in The Irish Times and RTE. News seems to be what affects me personally.

[Oppenheimer]

WTF is he going to protest? All these selfish neoliberals producing less trash putting the working class under pressure!

It seems, if the numbers are right (3.5 hrs per day), that the term "working class" is becoming ever more oxymoronic.

[jerryp]

Private contractors should be saying a big " Thank You " to Joe Higgins, SF, RBB and all others who organised the anti - bin charges campaigns. ( They might even do so in the Frank Dunlop tradition ! ). That short - sighted campaign inevitably led to privatisation becoming a real option for the councils involved.