The cost of living crisis will result in increased trash fees starting today for thousands of families in Dublin and across the nation.
The Irish Mirror reports that Panda Recycling will start charging €3.80 for each compost container lift. The new fee was added less than a year after Panda Recycling raised its service fees and general garbage bin-lift prices by more than 12%.
The charge for each lift of a general waste bin has seen a fairly big increase, as it’s gone up by €1.13 to €10.25 since September 2022 which is a rise of 12.4%. It means that households who wish to have their bins collected every fortnight are now paying €50 more per year for waste-collection services.
Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore slammed the extra bin charges, saying it is counterproductive to bring them in. She told Newstalk: “We want people to do the right thing when it comes to our waste.
“We want people to recycle and we want people to compost In order for them to do that we need to encourage them to do it and not penalise them when they do it so I think it is a counterproductive move by Panda.”
Panda Recycling has an estimated 360,000 consumers, and its parent company recently sold for €1 billion. Financial advisor Frank Conway said in the last month that the increased fees would be particularly painful for struggling families.
He said: “This will be a shock to people as it goes against the councils’ and the department’s circular economy objective of encouraging people to put less into the general waste bins.”