Waste piles up as firm misses bin collections

THOUSANDS OF Dublin residents have been left holding large amounts of recyclable rubbish following the failure of waste company Oxigen to collect green bins over the Christmas period.

Dublin City Council said the company had admitted it did not collect bins in some areas and is now helping with the clean-up.

The council apologised to householders who had been left without a green bin collection in recent weeks and said all dry recyclable waste would be collected within days. Oxigen, which had operated the green bin service for the council for several years, recently lost the contract to Greyhound Recycling. Oxigen had been contracted to provide the service until December 31st and now faces financial penalties for not completing the contract.

Greyhound, which began operating the service on January 2nd, said it has had more than 1,100 calls daily from householders in relation to the non-collection of bins by Oxigen.

Greyhound, which was not responsible for the non-collection, said those households which were missed will be serviced soon. Households where bins have not been collected can present all additional dry recyclable materials on the next collection day. Any recyclable material that will not fit in the bin can be stacked beside it.

Greyhound managing director Brian Buckley said all households would be serviced as soon as possible.

"The major issue for us now is to get people's bins emptied and get recycling rates up. Our teams are working flat out and are committed to getting this sorted out in the worst affected areas by the end of the week."

The helpline had been inundated with calls since Greyhound took over the service late last week, Mr Buckley said.

The green bin helpline is 1890 342342, e-mails can be sent to customercare@greenbin.ie and further information including a calendar of collection times for each area is available online at www.greenbin.ie

While the build-up of uncollected waste reached its peak over the Christmas period, several councillors said there had been problems with the Oxigen service for several weeks previously.

"Over the months of November and December, I had a number of complaints from constituents about Oxigen bin collections. The service was really bad in the last couple of months of 2008," said Mary Fitzpatrick, a Fianna Fáil councillor for Cabra and Glasnevin. Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said parts of Donnybrook suffered because they use green bags instead of bins.

"These bags have been ripped open and rummaged through by dogs, adding to the inconvenience and the dirt in the area. To make matters worse, I had arranged for an extra collection after this happened, but it never took place," Mr Lacey said.

Oxigen could not be contacted yesterday.