HOUSEHOLDS AND businesses who are customers of waste-management company Greenstar, which has gone into receivership, will continue to have their bins collected as usual, the receiver has confirmed.
David Carson of Deloitte said he would be managing the business as a going concern with a view to a selling it to another waste company.
With 80,000 residential and 15,000 commercial customers, the company makes 3.7 million collections annually and provides household collections in 13 local authority areas.
Customers should see no change to their bin collection regime and should continue to put out their bins as normal.
If the receiver achieves a sale, the buyer will have to honour existing terms and conditions.
This means that if another waste company buys Greenstar, it will have to provide the same level of collection service at the same annual, or “per lift”, charges as Greenstar for the duration of the contract, a spokesman for the receiver said.
However if the contract with the householder says the rates are applicable for a certain time period only, such as the calendar year, the new company can increase the collection charges at the end of that period once it has given advance notice of the increase.
Households who do not want to continue as customers of whichever company might buy Greenstar can terminate the contract by giving 30 days’ notice and can seek another waste-collection service.
With Greenstar providing collections in 11 counties and 13 local authority areas, it is likely any buyer will already be providing collections in at least some of these areas. Once the terms of a customer’s Greenstar contract have run out, the new waste company may offer former Greenstar customers the terms and the rates it charges its existing household customers in the same area.
The bin collection charges paid by Greenstar customers vary quite widely across the State and in some cases households in the same county may be paying different rates.
In some areas, customers have paid Greenstar a flat rate annual or monthly charge; in others, there has been an annual charge and a charge for each collection, while a small number of customers have paid annual, per lift and weight charges.
The highest standing charge has been in Donegal, where residents have paid €428.51 for a 240-litre bin.
In Waterford city, the charge for the same size bin has been €275.38 a year.
The lowest standing charge has been €65 in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, but these customers have also paid €3.20 a lift and €0.247 a kg.
