New bin charges for Greyhound customers unless they opt out

The 250,000 customers of waste collector Greyhound, will be automatically transferred to pay-by-weight bin charges on July 1st unless they actively opt to remain on their current price plans, it has emerged.

The company, which services households in Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council, is at odds with competitors, who will keep customers on current price plans unless they positively opt for pay-by-weight.

Pay-by-weight was due to begin on July 1st, after then minister for the environment, Alan Kelly, introduced a statutory instrument, legislation that does not need to pass through the Oireachtas and need only be signed by the relevant minister.

But earlier this month, Minister for Local Government, Simon Coveney, and the waste industry agreed to freeze the introduction of pay-by-weight charges for 12 months, amid fears they would lead to a dramatic increase in charges for some customers.

At the end of the 12-month period, the Government will review the situation and decide on the roll out of pay-by-weight, as well as regulation and oversight in the sector.

A new statutory instrument, to revoke the introduction of the charges on Friday, has yet to be produced.

A spokesman for the Department of Local Government said it was “in preparation”.

Justin Moran, director of communications with Age Action, said older people had been really worried about the introduction of pay-by-weight and had contacted the charity about the additional costs. He said in the last couple of weeks, they had got the impression the issue had been put back for a year.

“I’m not clear why the obligation should be on the older person to respond,” he said.

“If the proposal is that pay-by-weight is to be put back a year, then why are older people receiving these kinds of communications, which I think will be frustrating to many of them?”

In its letter to customers, Greyhound said: “If you wish to stay on the pay-by-weight plan … our system will automatically transfer you to this plan on August 1st 2016”. In order to remain with old plans, customers must email, call or fill out a slip provided.

In a statement to The Irish Times, the company said following feedback, it is providing a choice to its customers; to stay with their existing price plan, frozen for a year, or go to pay by weight.

“We have made this process as easy as possible by providing multiple contact points, email, telephone or by returning forms posted to them,” the statement said.

It also said all current contracts would run until August 1st, giving customers an additional month to inform the company of their preferred price plan.

“This allows time for customers to make the decision and also gives us time to adjust our systems,” it said.

A spokeswoman for the Irish Waste Management Association said customers of all of its 41 members, which includes Indaver, Panda, Greenstar, AES, Thorntons and Oxigen, will continue with their current arrangement.

“Customers will only change to pay-by-weight if they request to do so,” she said.

Niall Killilea, director of Citybin, which is not a member of the association, said his customers would automatically stay on their current plan and would only need to make contact if they wish to change to pay-by-weight.