€14m to bring waste collection service back into public ownership
By Sean Heffernan
A motion was passed at the June South Dublin County Council meeting, calling for waste collection services to be brought back into public ownership.
The motion was proposed by Independents for Change councillor Ruth Nolan, who referenced the Competition and Consumer Protection’s ongoing investigation of the industry amid claims it was operating as a ‘cartel’.
The motion was passed in council chambers
In 2007 South Dublin County Council handed over collection to Greyhound Waste, and since then other companies have entered the bin collection business in the area.
Fingal County Council recently passed a motion also calling on bin collections to be brought back under local authority control.
Solidarity councillor Mick Murphy said: “23,000 houses were waivered by this council (made exempt from bin charges) prior to privatisation.
“SDCC got a once off amount for the service, and we are where we are as a result of this”.
Social Democrats councillor Dermot Looney called it “the worst decision this council ever made in all my nine years on the council”.
Sinn Fein councillor Mark Ward spoke about a number of European cities, including Hamburg and Sheffield who took back control of waste management, due to the mounting problems caused by private waste companies in those cities.
Councillors were informed by the Director of Environment Teresa Walsh that it would cost the local authority over €14m a year if they were to take back control of the service.
The motion was unanimously passed.
