The withdrawal of local authority door-to-door refuse collection services in Wicklow represents the way of the future, according to Wicklow County Council. It added that householders should embrace the principle that the polluter pays.
From this month, urban district councils at Arklow, Bray and Wicklow will no longer operate a home-based domestic refuse collection service in their areas. Wicklow County Council has taken a similar decision to withdraw from the service in the remaining areas of the county, including urban centres such as Greystones and all rural areas.
The local authorities have sent letters to their former customers advising them that the council will no longer be involved in the business and in some cases advising them of the name and contact number of a private operator.
However, the action has sparked strong protest from householders and some councillors who have accused the county council of orchestrating the withdrawal of the service, following its defeat over attempts to acquire a 300-acre site at Ballynagran, near Rathnew, for a new landfill operation.
Mr Michael Nicholson, acting county secretary, acknowledged yesterday that the Ballynagran saga was a factor, as it left the county council without a landfill site to provide for the future.
But he said that in any case private operators could operate the collection service more effectively and cheaply than the urban councils in Bray, Wicklow and Arklow, or Wicklow County Council itself.
While the private operators would now charge per bag, rather than a flat fee, this would not necessarily mean that households would have to pay more, he said. "It represents merely a change from the system where you pay the same no matter how much you dump, to the principle that the polluter pays. I would say it is the purest form of the polluter pays principle."
Last year, householders in the Greystones area, who availed of the service offered by Wicklow County Council, paid £95. Householders in the Bray area, who were offered a service from Bray Urban District Council, paid £79. Mr Nicholson said that the new prices would, taking one contractor as an example, amount to £78 a year for one bag a week. The county council had proposed to charge householders £200 this year if it was to continue its service.
"It is definitely the way of the future. The contractors themselves will be charged at £50 per tonne for the remaining space in county council landfills, so it encourages them to separate and recycle to reduce their costs too." Mr Nicholson said that as there were 14 local authorities in the State who offered a private alternative, the council was greatly surprised by the public reaction.
He added: "We will still be operating mobile collections for waste plastics, containers, newspapers and textiles, which visit selected centres on a regular basis. Our role will become more important in running `bring-centres' to encourage recycling in the county."
The council was concerned that "people realise that they still have a service, they still have somewhere to bring waste and what they don't take to bring centres will be collected. We are confident that once understood, the people of Wicklow will act responsibly and see that they can save money too".
The council has hired a private investigation firm to trace any bags of rubbish dumped. "If anybody thinks they can get away with dumping they will be caught and fined or go to court. Four hundred fines were handed out last year and we have now got 60 authorised officers as well as every police officer," he warned.
