Consumers should refuse to pay the new charge for waste disposal added to the price of electrical goods and boycott retail outlets that have passed it on, according to a consumers' representative.
The charges, which will be implemented from Saturday, have been approved by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) register and the money raised will fund the recycling and disposal of old electrical goods.
On large household goods such as refrigerators, consumers will pay up to €40 per item, €20 for large televisions, €5 for vacuum cleaners and €1 for small items such as electric toothbrushes and radio alarm clocks.
People who want to get rid of their old appliances can take them to the retailer or local bring centre for no additional charge.
Dermott Jewell of the Consumers' Association of Ireland said yesterday these environment management costs (EMCs) are just another tax levied on the Irish consumer.
"Our problem is that the producer will pass this on to the retailer and the retailer will pass it on to the consumer," said Mr Jewell. "Until this situation is revised, the best we can do is to ask consumers to refuse to pay the charge and take their business elsewhere," he said.
WEEE Ireland, the body established by producers to manage the take-back and recycling of the waste, says it is right that the consumer should pay for the entire operation.
"Under the polluter-pays principle, the end users have been enjoying the item and so they should pay for its clean-up at the end of its lifetime," said chief executive Leo Donovan. "This is actually a very consumer-friendly legislation as it will ensure the prevention of irresponsible dumping and create a better environment for all of us."
The EMCs will be collected by the retailer and then passed back to the producers who control the recycling and waste disposal through WEEE Ireland.
"What we are creating is a brand new, cradle-to-grave recycling regime that will significantly enhance our environment," said Environment Minister Dick Roche yesterday.
"This visible environmental cost is actually a cost and not a price increase," he said.
Labour Party spokesman on the environment Eamon Gilmore said this system "flies in the face of the polluter-pays principle".
"When publishing the regulations, Minister Roche was, at the very least, being disingenuous in describing them as facilitating a 'free' take back of WEEE," said Mr Gilmore. "There is nothing free about a system that will involve a significant surcharge for consumers, and extra costs for small businesses," he said.
"The only ones who are getting anything free out of these regulations are the large companies that make these products."
Retailers say they have no choice but to pass on the new charges, but pointed out that the price of household goods had fallen in recent years. "We don't need supervision in terms of consumer groups or the Government in providing value," said Torlach Denihan, director of Retail Ireland.
"Our preference was that the charges wouldn't have been made explicit, that they would have been left to form part of normal price negotiations . . . but that is not possible," he said.